Cain and Abel
by legendarytobes
Summary: AU - Martha finds both Davis and Clark the day of the shower and adopts them. Jonathan disapproves after mysterious cattle mutilations on the farm so she leaves him, to raise her sons in wealth in Metropolis. All is going well until Chloe Sullivan comes.
1. Chapter 1

The world was ending.

That's what it felt like that day back in 1989, when everything came down in a rain of smoke and ash. Martha remembered it. She remembered a day that start as normal as any other, as mundane. There was the thrilled crowd from Smallville High, carrying bright red banners and streamers of gold. There were the wild whoops and smiles.

In that moment, Martha was happy for them, for the town she'd adopted as her own, and yet, she couldn't understand that same joy. She'd lived in Smallville for four years after quitting law school. She'd fallen hard for the handsome Jonathan Kent was was everything her father was not, from his stalwart honesty and bluntness to the manual labor he loved. There was so much there that she'd never been able to get from her father, from the man who'd been more engaged in board meeting and litigation, whom she could never fully understand.

She wanted more than the clandestine and two-faced world of Metropolis high society.

At 25, she thought she'd found that.

Only she'd learned that the hypocrisy in a small town rivaled that of the most haughty debutante ball. Lana Lang was adorable in her fairy princess costume. Seeing her there, a daughter the age of one she should have had, could have had if she weren't barren, always brought a sharp pain to her chest. So, earlier that morning, she'd succumb. She'd let herself believe in a wish, trust herself enough to wish for what was impossible.

Of course Nell had been there. She was there to flirt with her husband and Jonathan was too dim to realize it was happening. He didn't see that Nell was being more than friendly or that Nell was always so contemptuous of her. That dig about tulips as ordinary flowers, said with pursed lips an inch to close than was proper to Jonathan's face left anger roiling through her, but she'd let that pass. Things were only a semblance of idyllic on Kent Farm.

She loved her husband, truly she did, but she hadn't been ready for a life of barely escaping the collection agent, a life of whispers behind her back because she was the "city girl," a life where there was a nursery at the far end of the hall but not a child to go in it.

As she rode down the stretch back to Kent Farm, Martha reached down and let a hand rest over her abdomen. She'd miscarried twice since she and Jonathan had started trying, the second time, she'd bled so badly, they'd needed to give her an emergency hysterectomy. It nagged at her that Nell Potter, former head cheerleader and date of the star quarterback that had been Jonathan Kent, could probably give her husband the one thing she couldn't.

The thing he wanted most.

Children to carry on his legacy and to tend the farm that had been in his family for generations.

"Honey?" Jonathan asked, reaching out and grabbing one hand. "You seem quiet."

She sighed and forced herself to smile. "I was just thinking about Lana."

"She is cute, isn't she?"

"And she made such an adorable fairy princess. She even granted me a wish."

"What did you wish for?"

"I'm not supposed to tell or it won't come true."

"Martha, you can say," he prodded.

She could but it didn't mean she actually should. They'd been having arguments about children lately. He'd never said anything about her, there'd never been any blame cast, but things were tense. She wanted to try adoption but he wanted to wait, try when the farm was more stable. She understood why. They were always on the verge of losing the farmland and the house. They wouldn't pass the muster of an agency with finances as tenuous. Even trying and be rebuffed would be too harsh, a reminder to Jonathan that he couldn't provide as well as he wanted to or, as Martha figured, antiquated sentiments told him he should.

"You know what I want. To see a little face."

His hand tensed in hers. "Martha, I know."

She didn't know how he could though, not when he wasn't defective, not when he hadn't felt the loss of a life within him not once but twice.

"I just, maybe we could try something."

"It's not a good time for the farm, sweetheart. If we just waited a few more months. I'm sure the next harvest will be better."

He'd said that the year before and the year before that. There was no time for a better harvest. Martha had excelled at math; it had been enough to propel her to the top ten percent on her LSATs. She could see the trends. In three years, if things stayed as they were, there wouldn't be a Kent Farm at all.

But she could see him trying to reassure her, the tension pain in the lines of his face. So she merely nodded.

"We can wait. You're right. You always are. It's just seeing a little fairy princess always makes me want one of my own," she gazed again out the window. It was too painful when she was this raw to look Jonathan in the eye. It was then she spotted it. At first, with the initial red streak, she assumed she was imaging it. Things just didn't fall from the sky.

Then there was a second.

And a third.

Huge green boulders hurtling through the sky, streaked red with fire, racing for the land around them. One hurtled close and landed yards from their car. She felt the concussion as Jonathan struggled to keep the car running straight ahead.

"What's happening, Jonathan!"

"I don't know," he replied, ducking as another rock streaked past.

The road bounced. It moved, shuddered with the impact. The car rattled and she put her head in her hands, scared the rocks would hit her and them.

She was right.

She remembered one bright streak, an impact, a jolt incredibly strong, and the smell of smoke and gasoline. Then she remembered nothing at all.

Martha coughed, something was jostled in her stomach, her chest felt tight and constricted and she feared she'd broken ribs. But that wasn't her biggest worry. She could smell the leak, the gas heavily wafting through the air. That, more than the pain, jolted her awake.

"Jonathan!"

To her relief, her husband's eyes popped open. "Martha?" he groaned.

"Jonathan, can you move?" she asked, pushing back a hiss of pain.

"I...yeah. My neck."

"I know," she replied, reaching out and undoing the seat belt. She fell to the roof and screamed at the pain in her left side. She felt the force as Jonathan's body landed beside hers.

"Martha?"

"I think I broke something, but we have to get out."

"I know. I smell it too. Lean back and duck," he replied, drawing long legs back. One kick, two, three and the shatter of glass. With the window broken out, he worked quickly, pulling her out of the truck. "Are you alright?"

"Now, we have to keep moving. I...has it stopped?" she couldn't even be sure. The horrible howling was gone. The sky was still choked with smoke, but she couldn't feel the ground quake. God, what if this was the calm before more of the storm? They were in the center of a field, open space, and sitting targets if another rock fell.

"I don't know. I just don't know," he replied, taking her arm and pulling her through the fields. The grass was scorched, crackling and burning in patches beside her, but that didn't begin to compare with the massive wall of dust and smoke drifting through the air in front of them, creating an almost wall.

"Jonathan?"

"I..." he started, but then the window rose up, whipping her hair and Martha gasped at the sight in front of her. There was a monstrous crater, easily a hundred yards in diameter, right before them. But that wasn't as amazing. There'd been a meteor shower. There were craters everywhere now.

What was unusual was the large, egg-shaped pod sitting in its center as well as the little boy standing beside it, blinking bright green eyes back at her.

Martha couldn't explain it then, though she'd be asked later, what compelled her. It was simply that one minute she was scared and in pain, but the next she was racing down the slope, her husband trailing behind her. The pain in her side was a minor concern. The only thing that mattered were those green eyes, that smile.

Something deep inside her had broken, like a dam. It was a wave crashing over her and screaming.

That boy in the field was hers and she just _knew _it.

The boy must have known it too. He didn't back away from her or cry, but broke into a bright smile. "Lara!"

Martha stopped a few feet from him. "What?"

He looked back up at her again and giggled, "Lara! Lara!"

In all this mess, in the fire and brimstone literally around her, with the _spaceship _next to her, this was the oddest part. The boy-her boy-was speaking what sounded like English, what seemed like a name. "Sweetheart?"

The boy ran and slammed into her legs, beginning to babble more, "Lara, osc er tim so ioy! Lara!"

It was then that Martha realized the "Lara" was a coincidence. Did it mean "mother" where he was from? Could he feel for her what she felt for him. Was their connection more than just one-sided from her perspective?

She scooped him up and balanced him on the side that didn't stab with pain. Jostling him on her hip, she cooed. "It's okay. Shh, Lara's here."

He nodded against her and grabbed a strand of long red hair. "Sol!"

"Exactly."

"Martha," Jonathan said and she could hear the reproach in his tone. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? This boy needs our help."

"He's not just a boy and you know that. Kids don't just fall out of the sky."

"He did," she countered patiently, turning so that their son and, in her mind, his name was already Clark, just like her surname, could stare at Jonathan.

_Let him say no to these beautiful eyes. _

"Martha, that's...it's an _alien _. We just can't keep it like a pet."

"First, _he's _a little boy and he's perfectly fine. Second, he's perfect."

"For what?"

"We've always wanted a son."

Jonathan's jaw clenched. "He could be dangerous. We don't know anything about him, and we don't know how to take care of him. What if he's allergic to things? What if he's camouflaged and he's really like a Stegosaurus or something underneath?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not. He's going to have special needs, at the least. We can't take care of a toddler with whatever issues he has. What we need to do is turn him over to the right authorities."

"You mean like that army base outside of town?" she countered.

"Maybe."

She clutched Clark tighter. "You know what they'll do to him."

Jonathan didn't look her in the eye as he spoke. "They'll take care of him."

"They'll cut him into little pieces. He's just a little boy and he doesn't deserve that. I found him, Jonathan. I'm going to protect him and that's that."

"But he could be-"

"He's not!" she snapped and her harsh tone caused Clark to start crying.

"Shh, Clark, shh. It's okay, mommy's here now."

"Lara!" he wailed, clutching onto her more tightly than she thought a three year old capable, but that must have been her imagination.

"Shh, it's going to be okay, I promise you, Clark."

"Clark?"

"Like my last name. I...it just seemed to fit."

"I see," Jonathan replied, shaking his head. "Alright, we'll try this, but if anything unusual happens, we have to turn him over to the authorities."

"I won't agree to that."

"If he turns out to be dangerous, I won't keep him."

She smiled and kissed the top of Clark's head. "Well he won't be."

"Come on, I think I saw Bob Palmer's truck a mile back. We can get it and slip that thing onto it. We need to get it out of here if keeping Clark is going to work."

Martha nodded and, despite the time running down, started to circle the ship. "It's amazing isn't it?"

"Amazing and obvious. Martha, we have to hide this if keeping Clark is going to work."

She nodded and kept walking until she came to the other side, the back that had been obscured from her view. Then she gasped. "Jonathan! Come quick!"

"What's wrong?"

"There's another one."

**Four Months Later **

"Clark! Davis! It's time for lunch boys!" Martha called up the stairs. She grinned as she watched her two children run down the stairs. The grin widened as she watched them sit down at the small Fisher Price table (something she'd found the local kindergarten throwing out as it upgraded with a better budget). Clark started by digging into his carrots, while his older brother went straight for the fresh sliced turkey.

"Mommy, are we going to go see the town today?" Davis asked.

She smiled at her older boy, named for Jonathan's grandfather. He was bigger than Clark, more mature, possibly about seven or eight. He was also adapting faster to his new home. Clark was still struggling to learn English and tended to babble more often than not in whatever the boys' native language was. Davis had stepped out of his ship, as naked as Clark, speaking English perfectly.

Of course, he was older, maybe he'd learned other languages at school.

Martha didn't know.

Clark was just too little to share much and Davis swore he couldn't remember anything before the day of the shower. Not that either boy knew they weren't from Kansas. Davis simply thought they'd been adopted after a bad car accident. Either he was lying or blocking out the memories of their planet. Martha thought it was the latter. He seemed so scared and skittish, so traumatized by all that had happened that day and the mad rush to the hospital that he might not recall his other life at all.

Martha wasn't going to help them remember it.

They had the ship, that was true, but it would no longer open, and they'd left it and the small silver disc that had come with it, locked up tightly in their storm cellar. Perhaps, one day, her very special boys would be old enough to understand, but today was not that day and it wouldn't be for many years to come, even for Davis.

"Baby?"

"Mommy, when do we get to go back to town. We only went to take Lex to the hospital and I want to go back."

Clark started sipping his milk, babbling happily to himself about who knew what.

Martha frowned. They were working very hard to teach Clark English and to stop him from babbling at all. It was unlikely anyone would hear his strange garble of words and think the language was of extraterrestrial origin, but it was still a risk.

"Davis, don't you like the farm?"

He frowned and bit into his turkey again. "I do, but I want to see other kids."

"You have your little brother."

Davis frowned. "I know but he's still little. Shouldn't I be in school?"

She sighed. "I tell you what. Let's play hide and seek after lunch."

"Mom!"

"Let's play, the three of us, and then tomorrow I'll take you to Smallville elementary and we can talk to the principal about getting you started in first grade."

"Really?"

She bit her lower lip. Jonathan didn't want the boys mainstreamed yet. Sometimes she wondered if he was going to mainstream them at all. Jonathan was good enough with the boys, had taken them out with the old mare to learn to ride, had shown them the back forty and promised how the land would one day be theirs as well. All of Clark's and Davis's toys and most of their clothes were generous hand me downs from Jonathan.

But it still made her wonder.

Not enrolling Clark and Davis in school seemed to be a sign to her, another part of the mentality to prepare for the worst and for the chance that her babies wouldn't be on the farm forever. Martha didn't believe that. After four months, the boys were hers and she'd never let them be taken off to a base or a lab.

Not at all.

So mainstreaming seemed like the best idea.

Besides, Davis had been asking about starting school for over a month. He was bright, had already read through a lot of Jonathan's old Hardy Boys books, and she wondered how his parents-wherever they were from-had trained him in human languages.

She wondered so many things these days.

"I promise, baby, we'll get you enrolled there right away."

"Then I can have friends?"

"Of course," she replied, ruffling his hair. "There are lots of kids in town and I know they're going to like you a lot."

"And Clark?"

Clark, in his own quiet way, was still busy finishing his carrots. He'd figured out recently that if you spit out chunks, that it created bright orange piles everywhere. He had a small mountain on his plate already and the area around his mouth was neon bright. Martha chuckled to herself and went back to the sink, gathering up a collection of paper towels, and cleaning her younger son's face.

"Clark's a little too young for school."

"They have preschool."

"Lara!" Clark said, babbling happily and clapping his hands.

"I know, Davis, but your little brother's not ready."

"It's because he talks funny."

"A little, but Clark's not ready for school yet, but I think you are. I know it's late in the year, but the school might let you start. You're very far ahead."

"Okay, so," he said, hopping up and taking his and Clark's Sesame Street plates. "Do you think Clark can find me?"

"I won't have it, Martha. Not now!" Jonathan shouted and she flinched a little. She knew that Davis had a habit of listening on the stairs. She'd caught him and Clark trailing him almost like a puppy. It followed some of their more spectacular fights about finances. She'd come upstairs to the boys' room and found Clark with his thumb in his mouth and Davis stroking his hair.

She didn't want this to happen again.

The boys were scared. Jonathan was scared. Hell, she was scared but not for the same reasons.

Today, Clark had proven he was different. He'd been hiding under the large four poster bed in their room, and she'd slipped under there to try and find him, but she'd gotten stuck under the slats. She'd called for Davis to get her phone to call Nell Potter next door, but before he'd even picked up the receiver, Clark had picked up the bed.

The entire thing.

Over his head.

Martha had been so shocked that as she'd scooted out from under it, she'd yelped, startling Clark and caring him to drop it. It shattered into several large pieces and smaller splinters splayed out at her feet. It had been impossible to hide that from Jonathan, especially when Davis had been so excited by all of it to share.

He thought his brother was just like that character from the comics. What was it again? Watcher Angel? Something like that.

Jonathan didn't think the same way.

"Martha, that bed weighed over five hundred pounds."

"I was aware."

"He lifted it over his head. If he could do that at _three _, can you imagine what he'll do at ten? Or when he's a teenager? He's too dangerous to have here with us. What if it had been you or Davis?"

"What?"

"What if he'd broken bones or, God forbid, cracked your neck."

She stood up from the dining room chair and glared at him. "He's not some kind of monster."

"I didn't say that. Sweetheart, I know you're attacked to the boys but they're not really ours. They'd be better off somewhere where they can be properly taken care of."

"If by 'taken care of,' you mean tortured," she hissed, surging right up next to him. "I won't lose my sons."

"They're not our sons. We agreed to take them in and if anything happened..."

"No, you said that, and I told you that I'd never turn them over to those monsters. You know what'll happen if anyone ever finds out what Clark can do. It's too dangerous for him and for Davis too."

"Martha, we can't."

"I can. What you mean when you say 'we can't' is that you _won't _. Just give it some time. We've been getting better at weaning Clark off of babbling. We can train him when and how to use his strength."

"What if he hurts you?"

"He loves me and a broken bone in an accident is worth both of them."

"What if this is just the beginning? We don't know anything about what Davis and Clark's people are actually like. What if he ends up firing lasers from his eyes or being strong enough to shred steal?"

"Don't be ridiculous. He's just a little strong. That's all."

He shook his head and leaned against the sink. "I don't think we can keep them forever. We just can't."

"Watch me," she snapped before storming up the stairs.

Martha had barely made it to the front hall before she heard the scramble of little feet up the stairs. Sighing, she climbed the stairs and walked into the old office that was now serving as the boys room. There were a set of modest twin beds from the Smallville Good Will, a scattering of Watcher Angel (that was right, wasn't it?) posters on the wall, and at least one of Big Bird whom Clark just adored.

Clark was curled up asleep, his thumb in his mouth.

Davis was standing guard over him.

"Sweetheart?"

Her son turned to he and she expected to see his eyes wet with tears. Instead, after he turned, she could tell he was brimming with anger, barely able to stand still.

"What's going on?"

"I'm sorry you had to hear daddy and mommy disagreeing," she started, reaching out to stroke his shoulder.

"No, I mean what's going on with Clark? Dad says there's something wrong with him."

She stiffened and then sat on the bottom bunk, easing the bangs off her sleeping child's face. "He's perfect."

"He's strong and he talks funny, and I don't remember anything before I came to stay with you."

"I know but that's okay. The meteor shower was scary for everyone. It's okay if you don't remember it or if you blocked it out. That happens."

"But it doesn't explain why Clark's strong."

She looked back at him. "Does that make you upset that he is?"

"No, he's my brother. Do I get to be strong too?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, baby. I don't know why Clark could lift the bed and you can't."

"I tried though. I went downstairs and tried real hard to lift the cabinet where the TV sits and I couldn't make it budge. Am I sick? I'm bigger than Clark; I should be stronger."

"No, of course you're not sick. You and Clark are just different."

"Daddy doesn't like it."

"Daddy will adjust. He was just worried is all. Getting used to what Clark can do is very hard, but he'll learn."

"He doesn't like Clark, does he?"

"No," she said, kissing both of them, lingering on Clark's crown. "He loves both of you. We're just trying to figure everything out. Clark's not going anywhere. You're not going anywhere. We're all going to be fine."

Davis looked back at her and for the strangest moment, she could have sworn his eyes flashed red. "No, we're not."

"Martha! Martha! Dear God, you have to see this!" her husband shouted as he rushed into the farmhouse. She'd just finished cleaning off the plate from his morning meal of scrambled eggs and bacon. It was just six a.m. and she was waiting another hour or so to wake the boys for their own breakfast.

"Jonathan?" she asked, noticing how white he was. "What's wrong?"

"You have to see this."

"What?" she asked, throwing on her overcoat and boots already. "What's wrong?"

"Come with me now," he said and she followed him, not because of the order but because his commanding tone had left her stomach churning.

She scurried with him, quickly across the fields, until they came to the pasture. She could tell that most of the herd was gathered in one small corner of the snow-covered field. "What's going on?"

"This," he replied, opening the paddock and she followed him, coming to a stop when she found the snow drenched red in blood. She could barely tell that it was a cow left sitting in front of her. It's body was torn away to shreds, until all that was left were entrails and the occasionally spare organ-the heart, the brain, a splinter of bone. It was shredded, split to ribbons and left to congeal like a foul pudding.

Martha leaned over and retched. "My God."

"I know."

"I've never seen a coyote do that."

"It's not a coyote," he replied, pulling out a long, needle like structure. At first, she thought it was part of the cow but her eyes widened as she studied it. It was thick and gray, the surface jagged like a shark's tooth.

"What is that?"

"I don't know, but I've never seen anything like it. I don't think it's any animal around here. I've never seen anything strong enough to shred a cow to ribbons."

"I don't understand."

Jonathan threw the spine down between them. "I think it's Clark's."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Two days ago, you'd have said the same thing about Clark not being strong. Think about it, something completely foreign, something strong."

"Clark's not a thing."

"First the bed, now the cows. Martha, this is too much."

"You can't prove anything."

He picked up the spine again. "I think this says a lot. I'm calling the authorities."

"You can't."

"I let this go on long enough."

"Let it? They're our children. Together. We did this together. You didn't 'let' anything happen."

"Well I'm not going to keep something in my house that could kill you and that _is _killing my herd."

Martha panicked, overwhelmed by the thoughts of her beautiful boys alone in a sterile cell, at best. At worst, she could picture the scalpels, hear their screams.

No.

No one was going to do that to her babies.

"No, you're not."

"Martha, we'll try adopting real children. This is ridiculous."

"You don't understand me. I'll go to my father."

"What?"

"I'll go back to daddy and I'll ask him to buy out your loans. He spends more money every year on mistresses. I'll ask him to buy out this farm, kick you off, and bulldoze that damn farmhouse to the ground."

She watched Jonathan's complexion grow even paler. "You'll what?"

"I can do it. I'll go to William Clark, one of the most powerful litigators in the country and I'll ask him to buy you out or, better yet, when I file papers, I'll make sure I get _everything _in the divorce."

"What?"

"You heard me. If you really think Clark is some kind of monster, if you're solution to everything is the military, then I'm done with you."

"You see what he did," Jonathan hissed.

"I see what you want to believe, Jonathan. Clark's my son and I'm going to protect him, no matter what. I'm going to cut you a deal. Clark, Davis and I are going to leave the farm this morning. I'll send for our things."

"You don't have that much here. The furniture was from my parents."

"No, I mean _the ship _. I'll find a place to store it in Metropolis."

Jonathan shook his head. "Just think about what you're doing. You're going to throw everything away. I love you."

"I love you too," she said, taking his hand. "But I love those boys more and I promised to protect them. Goodbye, Jonathan."

Martha had taken the time to dress her sons in their finest clothes. Clark had spent the entire station wagon ride pulling at his tie. Davis was quieter; he had merely sat there with his hands shoved deeply into his blazer's pockets. Sullen and pensive as they'd driven to Metropolis.

Now they all stood outside the large oak doors (specially imported) to her father's penthouse in the city. Saying he had mistresses was a slight misnomer, maybe just old resent brought forth. Her mother had died when Martha was still a teenager. Behind these walls were just her father and his housekeeper from the hours of nine to five. If Jonathan hadn't been able to deal with her special children, she wasn't sure how William Clark would be able to.

But he had the means to protect her, the money it would take to procure fake identities and documents, the facilities to hide the ship, the power to keep people away from her sons.

She would start there.

Steadying herself, Martha knocked on the door.

The maid opened it. "Martha?"

"Cynthia, it's been too long," she replied, hugging the woman she'd leaned on after her mother's death, the only person she'd been truly sad to leave behind in Metropolis.

"Goodness child, what are you doing here? Where's Jonathan?" She frowned and eyed Clark and Davis. "And who are these little gentlemen?"

"Hello," Clark said and, for once, Martha was glad it wasn't a stream of whatever he'd spoken from before.

"Hi," Davis chimed in. Then, he pulled on Martha's sleeve. "Mommy, are we going back to Smallville soon?"

"No, baby, not today. Cynthia, is there room for a few more?"

"Of course, child, come on in."

Martha was sitting in her father's office. He'd come home, seen the boys and said nothing but a curt order for her to follow him. Cynthia was watching the boys and that made her nervous for Clark's sake. He'd not done anything with his strength since the bed, but she hoped he wouldn't, hoped that he'd wait a while longer so that she could break the news to her father.

"Martha, what's going on."

"Daddy-"

"It was William last time and that was one of the more polite things you called me," he reminded.

She nodded. "I know. You were right."

"Excuse me?" he asked, leaning forward. Everything about him was polished from his well-manicured nails to his tailored Italian silk suit to the sheen of his skin. Martha assumed he'd even kept up with laser peels to look as young as possible. To hide a bit of his sixty years.

"I said, you were right and Jonathan wasn't the man I thought he was."

"Was it sheep or a townie. I've heard talk about that Potter woman who runs with the Luthors from time to time."

Martha pursed her lips. Jonathan wasn't ready for her very special children. It didn't make him a hick or an adulterer, not by a long shot. "No, daddy. It's the boys."

"Where did they come from Martha?"

She didn't lower her gaze from his. Moot court had taught her enough about presence to keep hers. "The meteor shower left quite a few orphans in Lowell County. We've been caring for them because their parents are gone."

_Into a different solar system. _

"Are you working through the foster system?"

"Not exactly."

His eyes narrowed. "I know you've been sick and that you've had trouble adopting. A friend of mine at Metropolis Children's Center has a few contacts in Lowell County and..."

"You've been checking up on me?"

"What have you done to your life? I have been checking. The farm's barely solvent. I know you help keep it afloat by working basically as a hand. You're too destitute to pass muster from any adoption agency. This was not the life I wanted for you."

"I wanted to be independent. I didn't think I wanted the law and some power marriage."

"Didn't think?"

She was wrong. She wanted the law now. She wanted her father and the power that his position and hers-if she could become a partner at Clark, Thurston, and Howle-could afford her sons. They needed protection and she needed money and clout to do that. She needed something to lever against Jonathan if he were to ever talk.

"I want to come back. I have to take the bar, but I think I could. I...Jonathan isn't who I thought."

"He didn't want children, after all, did he?"

Martha swallowed but held her head high. "He wanted children, just not ones as special as ours. I lied when I said their parents are dead. I don't know if they are for sure."

"Martha, you couldn't have kidnapped."

"No, you don't understand. I don't know if their parent's are or aren't alive because I can't find them."

"Then they're abandoned children. We can start proceedings on that. Try and find the parents, get them to come forward, if they don't after a certain period, a legal adoption shouldn't be so difficult to push through."

"Their parents won't come for them."

"How do you know?"

Martha leaned over and pulled the small octagonal disc and the tablet from her purse. Both had been inscribed with odd symbols, akin almost to pictographs or heiroglyphics, but that wasn't the most unusual trait they shared. The metal was smooth, frictionless, something so fine and well made that it couldn't have been done on Earth. "They came with these."

"What are they?"

"What do they look like?"

"A prank. Something for heiroglyphics' nuts."

She reached into her purse and pulled out a sheaf of papers. She'd stopped somewhere first. It was why they'd not arrived until seven p.m., even with the packing. "Read this."

"I'm not a mathematician."

"It's chemistry," she corrected. She'd pawned off the work on a friend of hers from Metropolis Day who'd gone off to M.I.T. and now worked for Star Labs, a favor in exchange for a truly heinous blind date Irma had forced her on in high school.

"The end results say that the metal isn't of Earthly origin. So you show up with two boys, special artifacts, and a metallurgist's report and expect me to believe that you're harboring two aliens."

"They're little boys and they don't know, and they have a ship too. I'm trying to move it here after because of the divorce. I don't want Jonathan to show it off or try turning them in."

"And you think I won't, if this is even real?"

She passed him a picture of the ship. She'd taken over a dozen polaroids. "It's real."

"Martha, how can you..."

"I have proof from different sources. That's what a good lawyer does, works in facts. I have two sons whom I love and whom need a lot of protection."

"Martha, why doesn't Jonathan want them around. Even if I believe this isn't a ruse."

"I have the proof."

"Even if I see the spaceship in person, I have to admit that Jonathan was always so very protective of you."

"You mean controlling."

"It was always 'he just cares' before."

"Well not when he was ordering me what to do about my children. He made the ultimatum. I turn the boys over to a lab or he would."

"And he let you go without calling the authorities?"

"I told him you'd buy out the farm's outstanding debts and have it bulldozed."

Her father smiled for the first time in years. "That's my girl."

She didn't know how to take that but if it meant protecting her boys, she didn't care. "I need you to help me take care of them."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Clark's stronger than a boy his age should be but both boys are so sweet and kind. They're good boys. Jonathan's just-"

"Ignorant and intolerant. I see. I can't say that he's wrong on this. You don't know..."'

"Daddy, I can't have children. I resigned myself to thinking I could never have them and then the universe gave me the two sweetest boys there ever were. I want them. I'm vouching for them."

"Then, darling, take me to their leader."

"You're looking at her."


	2. Chapter 2

****12 Years Later********

Clark was fiddling with his tie.

It was a nervous habit he'd adopted over the years. It wasn't that he didn't know how to tie a tie. He did. He'd been doing it on his own since he was six. Coat and tie was the standard attire for so many things-the firm Christmas parties, when he visited mom at her office (the one three doors down from Grandfather), even attending the awards ceremonies at St. Stephens and St. Agnes in Metropolis.

It was what he'd always worn with his tutors.

Grandfather had a saying that clothes made the man. It was trite, but it was no less true. Clark saw the difference in how he was treated. When he went out to restaurants or on the town dressed his best with his grandfather, everyone was differential. When he just went out to Central Park, dressed in his favorite blue t-shirt and worn red jacket, no one even noticed him. Well, sometimes girls actually smiled at him, but only when he was on his own. Between the two of them, his older brother Davis always got the attention.

Clark understood. He did.

His brother was a senior and was the star quarterback as well as the senior class president. Half the girls at St. Stephens and St. Agnes wanted to date him, and the other half probably already had. Alright, that was a petty shot, but his brother was popular.

Clark wasn't.

Shaking his head, he wrenched his tie loose and started again. He was just not getting the Windsor knot down today. It was probably his own anxieties making his hands unsteady. He didn't think he was ready. God, why had he insisted on trying high school? He hadn't been in a classroom since he was nine, and then there'd been an accident.

He hadn't meant to hurt anyone. There had just been kids picking on a boy with large braces at recess. He'd pushed one of them and broken their collar bone. It was why Grandfather had insisted he be pulled out of private school and then left with a legion of tutors instead. It wasn't the worst thing; that was true. He had received a better education than even the most elite private schools could have given him. His own "gifts" (as his mother called them) helped him excel in math and languages. He was already learning differential equations and linear algebra and could read Greek, Latin, and spoke French and German.

Memorizing was never a problem.

But it wasn't the same.

He saw his brother, the normal one, the one who didn't break everything, who couldn't run so fast that he ended up lost in the middle of Gotham at age six. Davis had friends and girlfriends and got to go to real classes. So Clark had started asking in seventh grade to go to real classes too.

It had taken two years to wear his grandfather down, mostly by reminding him that he hadn't so much as cracked an egg in his grip since he was eleven, but his grnadfather was stern and demanding. He was the most cunning lawyer in Metropolis, as he often reminded Clark, and he worried about exposure, about further accidents that his money and his name couldn't cover up. If people found out that Clark were special, well, Clark could do the math on his own. It wouldn't be good for him.

He wasn't sure if the government or Star Labs or whoever would have the authority to take him away from his family, but he didn't want to test it. Some days, he wondered where he and Davis had been adopted from. It was obvious they had been. His mother had no baby pictures of him, and Davis often told him about the chaos of the meteor shower and how mom and her ex-husband had saved them both. He knew about the little yellow farmhouse they'd started in, but they hadn't stayed.

That was his fault, naturally.

Mom had never breathed a word about the real reason they'd moved, but Davis had wandered out to the fields they day they'd left. He'd seen the cow.

Or, more accurately, what was left of it.

Clark had done that and he didn't even remember it. Yes, he knew he was very dangerous, and that he was lucky Grandfather loved his mother enough to keep him around. He knew that if they'd stayed in Smallville a moment longer that Jonathan would have called the authorities on him. It was motivation to work hard to be more normal.

Like today.

"Clark?" Grandfather called and he squared his shoulders, turned, and entered into the old man's office.

"Sir?"

"Your tie is crooked."

Clark sighed and adjusted it one last time, his eye lingering over the school crest, _his_school crest. He was finally allowed to do something normal. He wasn't going to screw it up. "I was fixing it."

"Clark, do you know what I'm about to tell you?"

He sighed. "Don't break anything. Don't use your powers. Try not to stick out too much in class. Do the best you can for college admissions but save all the extra math stuff for private tutoring after school, and don't do anything cool."

"I don't use that term," his grandfather replied.

"I meant, that even though Davis is captain and I could outplay the entire team-and I mean if they all took the field at once against me-that I can't try out for football."

"There are other opportunities besides on the field."

"Davis gets to do it."

"Davis doesn't have an unfair advantage."

"I wouldn't cheat."

"You landed a child in the hospital for a month last time and you weren't even trying very hard. There are other activities. It's early in the school year and you could run for freshman class president."

"And I'd ride Davis's coattails," he complained. "Use that 'Kent' name." He had little idea why his mom hadn't dropped her married name after the divorce. He supposed it had to do a little with the idiocy of him being legally named Clark Clark and for that he was grateful. He already had enough strikes against him.

"Well then, I'm sure there are other activities-economics team, debate club, the school newspaper, The Monitor, is well-respected. You do have a talent for English."

"I have a talent for everything," he countered. "It goes along with being a freak."

"Don't turn this into another round of being jealous of your brother. You know sports are prohibited. Just try something else. Not every kid can be a sports star."

"But my brother can. He already has the Ivies drooling," Clark countered.

"And one day, you will have them recruiting you for your intellect. I'm excited for both of you to become a part of this firm. Your mother has been nothing short of excellent as a litigator. I can't imagine you or your brother being any different. Harvard and Harvard Law will be lucky to have you."

Clark sighed. He didn't want to have this debate now. The last thing he wanted was to be a lawyer, let alone one that worked for corporations as notorious as LuthorCorp or Cadmus Labs. He was entertaining the idea of going into physics or, oddly enough, writing. He liked the effort the latter took and, frankly, working for the school paper wasn't the worst suggestion his grandfather had ever made. He'd have to check that out.

It wasn't like there was a bench he was destined to warm for the old Bruins.

"Is that all, sir?"

"Don't get caught and don't user your abilities."

"I know that much."

"Then I think you're ready."

During A-period, that break period between 3rd and lunchtime for club meetings, Clark made his way to the monitor offices. It was weird being back in school. He'd gone originally to Excelsior but he'd been permanently expelled for breaking a classmate's collar bone. Back then, it had, of course, been all boys' classes. Then he'd had predominately male tutors. It was odd to see girls in class and in the halls and a little uncomfortable to see how short some of them wore their plaid kilts and how low they left their Oxford shirts unbuttoned.

It made his eyes itch for some reason, which just made him feel like a bigger freak.

Clark tried very hard not to touch anyone in the halls. His grandfather's warning and his mother's own less stringent speech had him terrified to touch anyone. He hadn't told either of them, because he knew it would ruin his chance to attend school, but he'd had a burst in his strength that had accompanied his growth spurt over the past year. As he'd grown to over six feet, he'd felt a commensurate growth in his strength.

That scared him a lot.

So did the slight thumping that kept ringing in his ears. As he approached the main Monitor office, it grew louder. Plastering on his best and brightest "I'm normal" smile, Clark entered into the office. What he found there confused him. It was dusty and filled to the ceiling with old plastic crates of manilla folders and files. There were several large metal filing cabinets, old and slightly rusted. The computers-all three of them-hummed and he wasn't sure he'd seen models like that since 1998.

To top it off, there was only one person in the room, a short blond girl with hair that looked like she'd taken a weed whacker to it and a bright multi-colored scarf around her neck. He was pretty sure that violated the uniform rules, but at least her skirt wasn't rolled high enough to give him that damn eye itch.

"Hello?"

The girl grinned back at him. "Oh thank God. I have a minion!"

He bristled at the title. "You have a what?"

She stood up-all five feet of her-and gave him her hand. "Chloe Sullivan, editor."

"Yeah, how's that working out for you?"

She rolled her eyes and took her hand back. "It's a rebuilding year. The class of '99 used the paper to print a nasty editorial about Principal Reynolds for the graduation day issue. He shut it down for over a year, but I plan to resurrect it."

Clark snorted. "Jesus Christ couldn't resurrect it. I think I played Reader Rabbit on those things," he said, gesturing to what passed for a computer in this place.

"Well, there's a lot a mac book can do. I assume with the thread count of your shirt that you have access to a real laptop."

"I might," he conceded, thinking affectionately of his computer at home.

"Cool, then we can start from there. We'll need to spend a few weekends getting this place in shape and then I intend to start a campaign to Principal Summers to get better funding. If the jockstraps can have the cash, so can we. I mean, there are kids here who do want to get into Met U's school of journalism, you know?"

"I didn't," he added quietly. All he knew was that Harvard loomed large in his future and he desperately didn't want to go there.

"Well this paper is going to be the crowning glory. I mean, forget the state winning football team, forget the renowned theater department. This? This paper is going to be the most talked about activity at St. Stephens and St. Agnes."

"That's a pretty lofty goal," he replied, running his finger over the dust collected on one of the keyboards. It was thick enough that it would have made him sneeze, if he were capable of it.

"I can do it. You know what I want to do as my first assignment?"

"What?"

"I think we should cover student and teacher reactions to the death of Lex Luthor."

Clark frowned. "That feels tabloid-y to me, and that car crash was over two weeks ago."

"But he went to our rival school, Excelsior, and something like that? It's real news. I can cover pep rallies forever, but that was something else, Clark. I mean, what would you rather do? A new article on the Mathletes' chances or about something that affects all of Metropolis culture."

"I think it's prying."

"I think it matters more than the usual fare. If we want the paper to be different, then we obviously have to start thinking differently. I mean, it's not just about the big things that are affecting business and politics in Metropolis."

He leaned back against one of the desks. "It's not?"

"No, I've been collecting these clippings since middle school about Lowell County. Most of it is centered around a town called Smallville. Have you heard of it?"

He'd been found there, but he didn't want to get into the complications of his adoption. Instead he shrugged and acted aloof. "That big meteor shower, right?"

"Exactly. That town went schizo after that. Mutant six legged cows, giant frogs, bank robbers who can morph their appearance. If it's weird and unusual, then it's happened in Smallville, but those patterns don't just stop there. I've been checking police records in Metropolis too. I mean, makes sense. It's just an hour from Smallville."

"And this has to do with the cheerleaders getting new uniforms or the school lunch menu because?"

"Because there are people out there who I think have been altered by the meteors."

"Altered?" Clark asked and, for the first time, maybe his powers made sense.

"I think that they got different abilities. The EPA wants to claim its pollution from LuthorCorp, but if you look like people like Greg Arkin who killed that Lang girl or Tina Greer who could fake looking like Lex Luthor...then there's a whole other world out there. Some of the kids who got changed are dangerous and some might even have made it as far as St. Stephens and St. Agnes. The world has a right to know."

"As long as we keep covering the school plays on page one," he countered. "It still sounds like Inquisitor stuff to me."

"It's not. I'd never work for that rag. I'm going to the Daily Planet, but covering real news-and what's gone wrong in Lowell County _is_real news, is what's going to get me there."

Clark shifted nervously. She was hunting for people just like him. His throat was dry and he kept hearing that steady thump in his ears. It was so loud now and fast, like one would imagine from a hummingbird. He frowned and concentrated, focusing his hearing on Chloe.

It matched with the pulse point he could spy going up and down in her neck.

Was he really hearing her heartbeat? Could his ears be that sensitive?

"Clark? Are you okay? I know my speech is a little much. I scare off two other freshmen with it just today." She sighed. "I guess you're not into the new direction of The Monitor either, are you?"

"What...no, I think it's definitely different. I just suddenly had this headache. I tell you what. I'll see you after school with a mop and a bucket and we'll start cleaning this place out. I think I need some lunch to lift the glucose."

"Oh, do you want to grab some together? A period is almost over."

"No, I'm just gonna go," he replied, turning around and leaving as quickly as he could out the door.

Clark couldn't get the pounding out of his head. It was insane. Okay, the fact that he could lift cars (something spiteful done to Davis's Mercedes after an argument last year told him that much) and run to Nebraska in under twenty minutes was also insane, but why on Earth would he be hearing some stranger's heartbeat? He'd started hearing that thunk before he'd ever met Chloe, and now it was ringing in his ears.

Great, just great. Something new to tell his family, and a perfect reason for them to use to go back to tutors.

He sighed and leaned against the cool tile in the guy's locker room. It was lunch time and everyone was in the cafeteria. It seemed like this place was as safe and empty as any and it was guaranteed to be the last place Chloe would be. Of course, knowing her curiosity and assertiveness, he didn't put it completely above her to try sneaking in after them. Good luck with that. With her heartbeat coming in as loud and clear as a radio station, he could be in Gotham before she ever found.

It wasn't that the heartbeat was a terrible sound. It wasn't, exactly. It just was something he shouldn't be hearing, but couldn't ignore. As he took in deep breaths, he could hear it, and, what's more, he could hear it speeding up, as if Chloe were running a marathon.

Confused, he concentrated on his new ability, trying to hone in on where she was because the cafeteria certainly wasn't it. After a few long minutes, a dreadful time spent hearing her heart race, he focused in on the sound. Slipping into superspeed, he ran to where she was.

The pool.

Clark arrived at the indoor pool in time to watch Chloe, who for some asinine reason had climbed the high dive-and her heart must have sped up as she climbed the ladder-and was now teetering over the edge, fully clothed.

"Chloe?"

"Clark, what?" she called and then she lost her battle, her hands windmilling quickly as she tipped over and fell to the pool below. It didn't take him long to reach his decision. A fall from that height with the way she was positioned as she spiraled through the air, it would break her back.

He moved as fast as he ever had and caught her, coming to rest with her on the other side of the pool.

Recovering, Chloe frowned up at him. "I'm dry."

He gulped and set her down. "I noticed that."

"You caught me."

Clark stood up and adjusted his jacket. "I might have."

"You're not even going to lie?"

"I don't have lies that good." Although, once upon a time, he'd studied with an acting coach to help him be convincing in whatever story he needed to keep his cover. However, there was nothing to say that could hide the feat he'd pulled off to save Chloe.

Chloe quirked her head up at him. "You're really fast."

"I know."

"Way fast. You didn't even touch the water."

"I can jump pretty far."

"I...you're from Smallville, aren't you?"

"I moved from there when I was three." He frowned. "You're not going to run an expose on me, are you?"

She studied him and he despised the scrutiny. "You've never hurt anyone have you? I'm not looking at another bug boy or bone morpher. Those kids from Smallville hurt a lot of people before the authorities caught them."

"No, I've never hurt a person ever." He hadn't. He'd just thrown a temper tantrum he couldn't remember and left a cow in shreds but she had no right to know that.

"Then I don't have a story. I don't run stories on people who save me. That wouldn't be fair, would it. Of course, you use your running powers or whatever to start a crime spree and I'll be less understanding."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, but if you are dangerous, I'd think the student body would have a right to know."

"I'm not. I just happen to have saved you from a back brace. What the Hell were you doing up there?"

She looked down at her loafers. "Nice deflection. I guess you need to get on me first, huh?"

"I didn't exactly see you as a diving team member."

"I'm not," she replied. "I just go up there to think."

"You go up to the high dive to think?"

"I used to go to the roof. I mean, I've been here since first grade, you get to know the whole building. I used to like sneaking up to the roof for lunch so I could see the Planet's globe. It's the coolest sight in the city, but they locked the roof last year so I just started sneaking here to think."

"Some people actually eat lunch."

She rolled her eyes and pinched her hip theatrically. "I eat. It's just that I hate the cafeteria. It's so political and the other girls don't like me very much."

"They don't?"

"Don't act so surprised. Single parent household, my dad makes good money but it's as Lionel Luthor executive assistant-slash-personal butt monkey. It's not like he's executive material. Besides, no one likes reporters."

"Snoops," Clark corrected.

She pulled away from him angrily. "No one asked you to help me, Clark. I don't care if you have superpowers-"

"Abilities and keep it down!"

"I don't care if you're freaking Wolverine. You chose to save me and I'm not a snoop! The other girls just don't get me."

"I get that more than you'd think," he replied. "This is my first time at school in five years. My mom and my grandfather weren't too keen on letting me go."

"Because they were afraid someone would figure it all out like I have?"

"You've what?" A familiar voice called and Clark's head shot up faster than it should have. His brother was cutting through the pool to the guys' locker room. He already had his shoulder pads in one hand. "Clark Jerome Kent, what did you do?"

"You're not mom," Clark replied even as he felt his heart speed up. Davis was almost as overbearing as mom and grandpa about Clark's secret. He'd rat him out and Clark would never even get to go to college, any college.

"I don't have to be. You just outed yourself to impress some girl on the first day of school. Grandfather was right."

Clark stood up straight. His growth spurt meant that for the first time in his life he towered over his older brother. "I didn't do it to impress anyone."

"It's all my fault," Chloe added. "I was being stupid and climbed the high dive and slipped. Clark saved me."

"He should have let you splash. I'm sorry, but my little brother just screwed up majorly."

"But not so badly. I promise not to say anything."

Davis frowned at her. "Don't I know you?"

She nodded. "I interviewed you last week about the football team's prospects. I'm the editor of The Monitor."

Davis's teeth ground together. "Perfect. You choose the editor of the school paper to come out to. Mom's gonna freak."

"She doesn't have to," Clark countered.

"Oh, when she hears this, she's going to."

"But then she doesn't have to hear about it," Chloe replied. "I'm not publishing anything, not when Clark saved me from a backbrace. It wouldn't be fair and I believe in justice like that. If I don't say anything, and Clark doesn't say anything, and you don't say anything-"

"I'm supposed to tell mom if anything odd happens."

"My life is nothing but odd," Clark groused and he found it completely unfair that he had all the dangerous powers and Davis was sickeningly normal. It might not be mature or admirable to be bitter but that was just how he felt. Davis the Perfect, Davis the Normal, Davis the Bossy. Just once couldn't he cut him a break? "Please, Davis, I promise I'm never going to do anything like this again. Just give me a chance."

"And me."

"But if you say something or write a surprise editorial, you'd land my little brother in a lab."

"I won't. I stick by my promises," Chloe replied. "So," she added, sticking out her hand for Davis to take. "We keep this between ourselves. Do we have a deal?"

He hesitated and for a moment Clark saw his life as nothing more than a series of tutors and his grandfather's vigilance. It chilled him to think of it. Finally Davis took Chloe's hand. "Agreed but if you even think of breathing a word about him, you're answering to me."

She nodded. "I won't."

"See that you don't," he gruffed, dropping her hand and walking to the locker room. "Clark, we'll be talking about this later."

"How could we not?" he replied, sighing as he noticed the way Chloe's eyes were trained on his older brother. Of course she already had a crush on him. They always did.


	3. Chapter 3

Clark sat down by the pool. There was no point in even hiding anything from Chloe so he used his speed to slip off his shoes and socks and to roll up his trousers so that he could dip his feet into the water.

Besides him, Chloe's jaw dropped. "You're so fast."

"I get faster all the time," he replied. "I'm not like bragging. It's true. My body changes a lot and it's pretty scary."

She sat down and in a few minutes had her docs and her knee highs off as well and dipped tiny feet in beside his. "I can't imagine."

"No," Clark replied coldly. "I don't suppose you could."

She frowned. "I promised I wouldn't say anything about you."

"I know, but I'm sure it doesn't stop you from thinking badly about me and about all the other freaks in Smallville. I heard how happy you were to be exposing the people like me. It sounded like your pass to the big leagues."

"Tina Greer robbed banks. Greg Arkin killed two people before they stopped him. Someone needs to tell the victims' stories so it's not just forgotten or swept aside. Someone needs to tell people that, no, the rocks aren't safe. I never said anything about the other side. If there are kids who hurt people, law of averages says that there have to be guys just like you. People who help others."

Clark shook his head and splashed a little. "I've never used my powers for helping anyone except today."

"Powers? I thought you were just fast," Chloe countered and he remembered she wasn't the editor for no reason. He never had been good at lying, damn it.

"It's nothing."

Her eyes glittered. "You can do other things. It's not just the speed. I'm already in this, I promise not to breathe a word but I want to know."

"Of course, cause you're a reporter," he countered. "It's nothing. Just stupid things."

"Stupid?"

"Things that suck, that make it so you can't be normal or go to school or have friends. Things like that." And it felt good to be able to say these things. Mom tried to understand and Davis was a good brother, but they were so worried about him getting caught that they ended every talk with "just don't use them." They didn't understand that sometimes he wished he could and even more of the time, he wish they'd just stop.

"What?"

"I'm not just new here. I got kicked out of Excelsior when I was nine. I wasn't concentrating hard enough and I did this to some kid's collarbone." With that he slammed his fist into the concrete lip of the pool. It shattered into powder.

It didn't even take effort anymore.

"Clark, oh god, your hand is going to be so...fine?" Chloe asked, running her fingers over the palm and his eyes itched so badly then. Clark couldn't even imagine why they itched like that or why the more she touched him, the more they began to almost burn.

Pulling his hand back, he blinked a few times until his eyes felt normal again. "I'm fine. I'm always fine. There was this accident in the penthouse. I touched the stove burner when I wasn't supposed to when I was eight and it couldn't even make my skin hot. I'm too resilient, too fast, and way too strong."

"I can see that," Chloe said evenly. "Did you really break someone's collar bone?"

He nodded. "He were picking on my friend-the closest thing I had to one then-and I just pushed him back. I didn't mean to hurt him but I was able to lift 500 pounds by the time I was three. It was just too much."

"And that's why you missed school for so long."

"Yeah. I had the best tutors. I'm at the college level already. Fuck, I have a photographic memory and I can do math like you wouldn't believe-"

"Or understand. Geometry is kicking my ass." And it was then she offered him a small, shy smile. "I think what you did for me was amazing. I really could have been hurt. So if it takes you having like five different abilities in order for me to be in one dry piece, well I'm sorry to be selfish, but I'm glad."

"Thanks, it's nice for someone to say it."

"I don't understand. Doesn't Davis...um, that is to say..."

Clark could hear her heart hammer faster. Typical. They all loved his brother better. "Davis and I are adopted. We're not related and he's not like me."

"So he's normal?"

"Yeah, he's normal and I'm the freakshow," Clark replied bitterly and he could see the second Chloe realized what she'd said.

She reached out and touched his arm. "Clark, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that Davis doesn't have powers, is all."

"I meant it. It's so hard. He can do everything I want. He has real friends and girlfriends and he'll be able to go to any college he wants. I mean, grandfather talks a good game about after St. Stephens and about Harvard, but I doubt they'll ever let me leave the city. I know they're scared. I understand that. I'm scared too. If anyone ever found out what I could do, I don't know where I'd be, but no place good comes to mind. But I just...never mind."

She squeezed his hand. "What?"

"I just...it's hard." He replied. It felt like anywhere he was was a cage, but he couldn't say that to a girl he'd just met, even if she were really nice to him.

"I'm starting to see that. Am I the only person outside of your mom and grandpa and Davis who knows?"

"My mom's ex-husband. I'm the reason he's the _ex_. Not many people sign up to raise kids like me."

"Clark-"

He stood up and was back in his shoes. He liked the look of shock on Chloe's face when he did these things. It was almost fun having someone be surprised again by what he could do. "I am though. If mom had just taken home Davis, she'd still be married. If I hadn't hurt that kid's collar bone, I'd still be at Excelsior. If I weren't so freaking strong then that cow on the Kent farm wouldn't have been crushed."

"What?"

"Chloe, it's really great that you're a decent person and don't have some jones to see me in a cage. I am glad for that. But maybe working for The Monitor wasn't the best idea. I mean, you think you have me pegged as the hero in this equation. I'm better at math. I'm not the hero here."

Chloe frowned. "Who are you then?"

"I'm the monster," and with that, he sped home.


	4. Chapter 4

Davis was surprised when he got back to the penthouse from practice that his little brother still wasn't home. He was tired and sore, but in the good, worked out muscles way, when he walked into the expansive kitchen and grabbed an apple out of the bowl. Cynthia was off for the night. Mom had taken the whole day off from the firm. She said it was because she wanted to cook something special for the big family dinner for Clark's first day. His mom had developed a culinary streak with her three years in Smallville and with farm life. She still baked the best damn apple pies that Davis had ever tasted. If she weren't a successful litigator, she'd make a fortune outdoing Famous Amos and Mrs. Field's. However, Davis and Grandfather both knew why mom had taken the day off, and it had very little to do with Clark's favorite dinner-pot roast took long to cook, but not terribly long to prepare.

Mom had stayed home to be ready to go to St. Stephen's and St. Agnes in case there were _incidents_.

She'd even called Davis about seven times that day to make sure things we going alright with Clark. One wasn't supposed to keep their cell phones on in class but no on in the administration ever harassed him about anything and, as much as he'd like to play up his prowess as an athlete, it was because no one wanted to tempt William Clark to take legal action. When his phone rang and rang and rang, teachers pursed lips and invited him to step outside with no reprimand.

It wasn't fair and he knew the other kids were jealous of that perk, not that he abused it. On the other hand, his family earned the consideration. It wasn't like other families. From the outside, it didn't seem like other families because, even by Metropolis standards, they were wealthy. It didn't seem like other families because he practically owned St. Stephens and St. Agnes. These were the superficial differences his mother and grandfather counted on, the things people only paid attention to. All of it, as always, had been a smokescreen to do what needed to be done, to protect Clark.

Just like today, when he was put on permanent reconaissance to make sure no one ended up with a shattered collarbone again. Actually, and Davis would never say it to his mother (she'd kill him), but if Clark were to ever get into an altercation again, there wouldn't be a broken collar bone. Clark was infinitely stronger than he'd been as a nine year old and Davis knew it. After one blow out last summer, where he _had_been in the right about Clark not being eligible to try the swim races the Metropolis Towers had for the tenants' kids over the Fourth of July, the brat had managed to stack his car on top of two others.

Stack.

As if it had been no more than a building block.

Davis made Clark undo it before mom or grandfather saw and flipped out, but he knew in a way mom didn't that Clark was so much more than strong. If Clark got into a fight with someone or just let his concentration slip, they wouldn't be sore or injured. They'd be dead.

But he'd never say something like to to mom. Not only would it crush her, it would be needlessly cruel to bring up. _He_wasn't going to let anyone touch Clark. He hadn't let Jonathan Kent send Clark away before. He had been there for that long winter after Clark had been expelled from Excelsior to alleviate his brother's loneliness. He was here now for the PR nightmare that was having Chloe Sullivan-the editor of The Monitor, Clark, really?-know about his brother's difference. He cleaned things up and no matter what, he'd never have let Clark have another accident today.

Well, a bigger one.

"Davis Eugene Kent, drop it."

He rolled his eyes. "Mom, it's six thirty. Based on the way you are chopping salad, dinner's still at least twenty minutes away, and I had a two hour practice. Let me have a little something before I starve!"

She winked at him. "Just don't spoil your appettite. Now go upstairs and get a quick shower and put on your polo shirt and khakis. It's a casual dinner."

Davis snickered. "At least Grandfather isn't insisting on a coat and tails."

"He wants you and Clark to fit in well in Metropolis high society. Proper dinner behavior is part of power meetings and it's boring, isn't it?"

"Pretty much."

She nodded and smiled. "Welcome to being me twenty years ago. Now, go upstairs and get changed. Clark called and said he'd be home from The Monitor soon enough."

Davis frowned. "He what?"

"He was working late with his new editor. Cleo is it? Way he was pouting? I think your little brother already has his first crush."

Davis wanted to point out it would be his second, but that was pointless and stupid. Lana Lang was the fairy princess at The Talon Flowershoppe that Clark used to babble about when he was three. It wasn't exactly Romeo and Juliet. However, as far as he knew, Clark had promised to skip the paper-the less time spent with Chloe, the better-and come straight home.

Where the hell was he?

"Sweetheart?"

"Mom, I'm good, don't let the pot roast burn," he replied, before heading up the stairs.

Clark was there, sitting on Davis's bed and totally mussing his John Elway sheets, when Davis walked into his room. "Hey."

"Mine. You're room is down the hall, squirt."

Clark arched an eyebrow at him but didn't move. When he spoke, his voice was very quiet. "That worked better when I was still shorter than you."

"Long summer and I'll get the three inches back," Davis replied. "Squirt, what did mom mean you'd be home soon. I thought you came home after school, since working with Sullivan is clearly a very bad idea for someone like you."

That was the wrong thing to say.

"The freak like me," Clark said slowly.

"I didn't say that. I said someone, Clark. Don't put words in my mouth," he replied, throwing his duffle bag down beside his dresser.

His brother looked down at his hands. "Everyone thinks it. I know about the phone, Davis. I know how many times mom called you today. Well not all of them, but there were at least three times after lunch and boy did you backpedal I don't know how you went from 'Wait til I tell mom' at the pool to 'He's doing so great and you'd be proud' by study hall."

Davis frowned. His classes were on the upper floors of the old brownstone. It was insane that Clark would even insinuate that he'd heard anything. "I don't understand."

Clark swallowed and hunched in on himself. He reminded Davis a lot of the colts on the farm from when they'd been small. He'd grown a foot in three months. He wasn't even sure if any kid could do that or if that was what he'd come to label in his head as a "Clark Thing." However, the quick growth had left him tall and lanky. Objectively, not gawky looking. He could carry on the Kent tradition of having the ladies after him if he wanted, save for all his secrets. Still, Clark was lithe in a way Davis wasn't. When he hunched like that he almost gave off the impression of being fragile.

"I _heard_you."

"You can't have heard me. I'm on the other side of the damn building form you, squirt."

He looked up at him finally and Davis was polite enough not to acknowledge the fact that Clark had clearly been crying. "My ears grew."

"Huh?"

"I can _hear_things."

Davis inched closer slowly. Sometimes you had to be careful with Clark. If he felt ganged up on, he had a habit of running away to Lincoln and not coming back for hours. "What did you hear?"

"You and mom on the phone a lot. The bell gave me headaches. Chloe's heartbeat."

Davis wanted to say that it was crazy. You couldn't hear people's heartbeats, but Clark could run to California in about an hour and could lift cars. Impossible had never applied to his little brother because everything that shouldn't be true with him was. "You have superhearing."

Clark closed his eyes and laid his head back against the headboard. "I have _selective_hearing. I can't control it yet. I pick up on things. Loud hurts but it's getting a little better. Certain sounds though? They're easy to pick up on. I heard mom on the phone so clearly that I thought she'd walked into my classroom. But she wasn't there, not really."

"Clark, you heard her on the phone, three stories over your head?"

His brother snorted. "I know you're dumber than I am but keep up. That's what I said. I heard you and mom and everyone always checks up on me."

"Maybe someone should. How could you do what you did with Chloe? I can't believe you'd be so into impressing girls that you'd show her your differences."

Clark looked back at him. "It wasn't to _impress_anyone. I couldn't block her heartbeat out, okay, you happy? I kept hearing it after I met her. I was hiding out in the locker room until it went away but I heard it speed up like freaking Cujo was chasing her and when I rushed to find out why she sounded that way she was falling 30 feet. I wanted to keep her from breaking her fucking back."

Davis blinked. His brother had focused in on one heartbeat in a school of about 500, if one counted faculty and staff along with students. Why this one? "You like her."

Clark blushed. "No."

His brother, despite expert coaching, was a dreadful actor and an even worse liar.

"No we need to figure this out. You heard mom and me cause we're family and it makes it easy to focus on, I guess. But you heard Chloe because-"

"I don't know. But I did and I saved her and now you're going to tell mom and grandfather and I'm going to get kicked out of school. One day ever of high school and I'll be back to tutors and never leaving the penthouse."

"I didn't say that."

"Yeah, you did."

"Well it was heat of the moment. I was mad you were so irresponsible. Clark, what if she talks? What if someone else saw you besides just me? What if..."

"Someone figures out there's something seriosuly wrong with me and I end up in a cell?"

Davis's throat grew dry. "No one is going to take you away, don't be melodramatic."

Clark's eyes narrowed. "_I'm_not. Mom and grandfather have only been teaching me how to hide and be careful since I was three. I know the rules. If I get caught again, Grandfather might not be able to buy the right people off and threaten the wrong ones. I'd be sliced and diced."

"Don't let mom hear you even think that."

"No, that's me, by tomorrow I'll be a fucking mindreader."

Davis sighed and slouched against his desk. "Clark, all this pouting isn't very cool. You're so sensitive about everything."

Clark blurred. That was the only word for it and was suddenly towering over him. Davis needed to pay more attention. Clark hadn't just gotten stronger over the summer; he was infinitely faster too. "Easy for you to say. You get to do everything. I just want to go to school for more than one day. You're the only kid even _close_to my age I see day in, day out. Five years, Davis. Five fucking years. It's like Alcatraz. I can't breathe here sometimes. Fuck maybe I should just go down to Cadmus right now and cut to the chase. One cage for another, right?"

Davis resisted the urge to slap him. It would do nothing but break his hand before his final football season. "Shame on you. Mom and Grandfather have given everything to protect you. Mom would die if anything happened to you. Can you imagine how she'd break if someone took you?"

"Yes."

"Clearly you can't if you think a lab is as good as here, you self-centered asshole. Everyone here works every day to keep you safe, so stop the woe is me act. You're healthy, you're safe and you're loved. What more do you want?"

"I'm not."

"Oh we love you, moron."

"No, I'm not healthy or safe. I'm not safe because I slip all the time and one day someone will find me, and I'm not healthy because it never stops."

"What never stops?"

"I don't stop growing."

"You're not that tall, squirt."

"No, I...you don't get it. Every day, I'm a little stronger and a little faster and my skin that much more durable. Every day, I feel less...nevermind."

"Nevermind what?"

Clark started to pace and the breeze he kicked up as he did it left papers rustling on Davis's desk. "I feel less like me."

"What does that even mean?"

"I dunno but now I can hear random stranger's heartbeats. I...help me."

Davis had not expected the conversation to take this turn. "With what?"

"I want it to stop, Davis. Make me stop changing."

"You're not. You're just stronger."

"And faster and more invulnerable and better hearing. If there's something else coming, make it stop, please."

His brother was fourteen. Despite the tears he'd shed sometime this afternoon on his own, he wasn't going to cry in front of his older brother, but the fear and plaintiveness of his voice was still enough to scare Davis. "Clark?"

"Fix this! Make it better! Why can't you?"

"Fix it? Cause it just is. You can't change who you are, Clark."

"Why isn't it you?"

"What?"

Clark swallowed. "Why does it have to be me? Why can't I be the normal one? Why don't you have what I have?"

"We're adopted. We don't even know if we were both found wandering in Evan's Field because of the same accident or if we're related at all. If I could change it, I would."

"No," Clark replied, steadily. "You wouldn't. Because if we traded spaces, it'd be you with the tutors and in seclusion. It'd be you who people still whisper about at Excelsior. It'd be you with no friends or girlfriends, no football or student government. No one would take that place."

"I would," Davis replied and he meant it. Clark was his brother. He'd do anything to make his life easier, but they couldn't trade. Whatever had made Clark different was deeply ingrained inside of his younger brother. Nothing would ever change that or their dynamic where he was normal and Clark was something else.

"I wouldn't."

"What?"

"If I had the choice," Clark went on. "If I had the choice to live the way I do or give it to you? I'm sorry, Davis, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I don't want to be this way."

"Shh, squirt," Davis said, struggling for some levity. "You're just tired. It's been a long day and I said some things when I panicked that you didn't need to hear and it's just a lot. A new difference-"

Clark cracked the first genuine smile Davis had seen since Grandfather had relented on the school issue. "Chloe called them superpowers."

"What?"

"She's messed up, like you were. Remember, when I was really little on the farm. You used to think I was Warrior Angel. Isn't that funny?"

"Clark-"

"I just...help me."

"I'm trying. We have to deal with Chloe but I promise you, I won't tell mom."

"Bullshit."

"She'll make you leave school and you'll never get to go back. You know it'll be tutors until law school, you know it." Clark nodded, proving he wasn't completely off the reservation. "Good, then you get it. It's not just you. If Grandfather knows about Chloe Sullivan, her family's IRA is sunk. He'll go after her incredibly hard until she'll be too scared to talk."

"Chloe's not that type."

"People don't mess with William Clark and continue to make rent and afford food," Davis corrected. "And we all know it. So, I've thought about it and we're not going to say anything and we'll just get to know Chloe better, hope she'll keep her word. Because you're right, it's not fair."

"You think?"

"Don't be a smartass. Mom and Grandfather _are_suffocating you cause that's all they can think of to do. Clark, trust me, I'll take care of it."

"You can't know that."

"Of course I do. I always take care of you. Do you remember when mom and Jonathan Kent had that huge fight and he threatened to take you away."

Clark nodded. "I...sort of. I know the feelings, the impressions. I didn't know the words."

Davis nodded. Clark had talked oddly as a child, until he was at least four. It had been some odd pidgin language and Davis had assumed it was something like twin language or some odd coping mechanism to deal with the loss of Clark's biological parents. Clark had fallen hard into make believe about a world he called Krypton and into its language. It was odd, sure, but they'd survived nearly dying in a meteor shower, could one really blame a three year old for inventing a fake world of a better father and a functional family, one with crystals and snow and a red sun.

Surely not.

Hell, Tolkien had done something similar as an adult and made a fortune and literary history.

Clark had always been so smart and so creative, such a good writer even then.

"I know. You were...it was hard to get you to speak. It's okay. But you were scared and I held you and I promised we wouldn't have to stay at the farm anymore and we didn't."

"Cause I crushed a cow!"

_Crushed_was too kind a word. What Clark had left behind was jelly, but only Davis and mom knew that. There was never any need to scare Clark more. It didn't matter what he'd done when he'd been young and scared and unable to temper his strength. Despite his bitterness, his brother was kind and gentle and sensitive.

It was just an accident.

"Clark, I'd have done anything to keep you safe even if mom hadn't first. Okay? We're in this together, alright?"

"You were mad at me this afternoon."

"I was scared. I was terrified Chloe would write an article on you like she did on those kids from Smallville. I've had time to think and we'll play it out. Fuck, at worst? We'll just threaten Chloe off ourselves."

"It's not very nice and I don't want to scare her. She's nice!"

Davis smiled a little. His brother had it bad.

"Rule number one is we do anything to protect you. That's the given. But it might not come to that. I'm here, squirt, and it's going to be fine, promise."

"I wish I could believe that."

"You don't have to believe it. It's true. No one touches my brother, not ever," Davis replied.

It was then something stirred in him, something primal and deep, something angry, something he ignored when it reared its ugly head. Deep down in him, he could feel something stirring, some irrational anger and maybe it was his own scars from being abandoned in the shower. He didn't know but Clark brought it out of him the most, that anger.

Nothing was going to touch his brother and if Chloe Sullivan were going to be a problem, he'd just deal with it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chloe heard it first, the sudden yowl of her cat, Morris. Then a piercing shriek and nothing at all. He dad was working late for Lionel-some emergency teleconference with Tokyo-and she was alone in a dark town home and something was outside. Something that sounded like it had eaten her cat.

Flinging on her bathrobe, Chloe rushed outside. Beneath her feet, she could see a thick viscous red trail, curving around the side of the house and into an alley. Every horror movie she'd ever seen told her to run, but it was her cat, damn it, and she'd never been one to avoid the unexplainable. There was no longer yowling but, what she could hear, she couldn't quite place. It was a crunching noise and her stomach rolled at the thought at what might have happened to Morris but the other sound she heard was a low growl.

"The Hell," Chloe grabbed her robe tighter and, despite good sense and instinct, walked into the alley.

What was there made her scream.

The beast was large, maybe the size of a tiger or a lion, at least the ones she'd seen in the Metropolis Zoo, but it sure as Hell didn't look like any animal she'd ever seen. It was huge and gray, with skin like a rhinoceros. It's maw was large and razor sharp teeth, slicked with blood, escaped from it. But it was the array of sharp spike erupting from his skin that drew her attention the most. This thing-this monster-had been built to kill.

"Oh god."

It turned then, quickly, and she screamed, expecting it to charge her. The thing simply stared at her and took a long sniff. Large red eyes sized her up and she forced herself to stare away and wished she hadn't. She saw the mess of bones and fur who had once been Morris.

"Don't kill me."

Right, as if saying that to a grizzly bear or some monster would stop it.

It looked back at her and took one final sniff and let out a low rumble. "Chloooeeee."

"Oh god." She seemed stuck on one word but whatever the fuck was talking to her.

The thing before her shook its head and turned and blurred-it was so fast it disappeared-into the darkness. She sunk down on her knees and let herself cry. Looking over at Morris, or what was left of him, she felt both lucky and terrified. The thing had let her live, and there was no doubt of that.

The only question rolling through her mind was _why_.

She already suspected who because only one person she knew could move that fast.

Chloe didn't see Clark at activity period and that made a lot of sense. Considering the secret he had and what he'd fucking done last night to her, she wasn't surprised that he'd skipped out. Maybe he had decided that _The Monitor_wasn't for him. So when he sat down next to her at the library in study hall, she was beyond shocked and, frankly, scared.

She jumped up and yelped.

"Oh g...Clark!"

"Shh," Mrs. Mayweather, the librarian, said, bringing a finger to her lips.

Clark frowned. "Chloe, did I do something?"

Eying the librarian, she grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him deep into the old oak stacks of the grand library. "Something? Did you do something?" she hissed. "You ate my fucking cat!"

Clark blinked. "I what?"

"Alf, you ate my fucking cat. I...I don't even know how you got to my house but you came and there you were at midnight snacking on my tabby!"

Clark all of a sudden looked green and fell to the floor inhumanly fast. "I what? I don't understand."

"Clark, you were _there_. How can you not understand?"

"But I wasn't. I talked to Davis, had dinner with mom and Grandfather, did my homework and watched tv. I was asleep by eleven and then I woke up this morning and, you know, got dressed and came here."

She sat down across from him, but inched her hand toward her bag and her taser, just in case. "You don't remember, do you?"

"I just described my night. I'm sorry if some like pit bull or something got to your cat, but I don't even know where you live."

"Clark, why are you here? I thought you didn't want a friend."

"Well, you're nice and I've never had one before. I've always wanted one. I think I _need_someone. It's not like I can always talk to my family, since they're so overprotective."

"And I'm the only other person that knows your secret."

"Cow crushing and all," he said, looking down at his hands, hand that shattered tile without an effort. "Now you think I ate your cat because?"

Christ, he didn't know.

"Clark, do you remember what happened on the farm when you were little, that day with the cow?"

He shook his head. "I really don't. All I know is that mom made us pack up and leave and Davis hugged me a lot and told me it was gonna be fine. I don't remember doing it, I swear."

"Have things like that happened since?"

"Davis had a Schnauzer once, when I was about eight. He always told me it ran away, but he didn't even bother to put up fliers for him. I...I think I did it then too. God, I'm sorry. I don't know how I'd even find your house. I didn't...I never remember when it happens."

Chloe closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wished she didn't have to be the one to tell him this, but she was probably the only one who knew. "Clark, I think it was you because you moved so fast last night and it matched you running so fast yesterday when you saved me."

"What?" he asked weakly, "You didn't recognize my rugged good looks?"

She reached out and took both his hands in hers. It wasn't his fault that he was whatever the hell he was. Those stupid rocks had to have done it to him. He'd still saved her from breaking her back. She owed him a way to try and keep himself from hurting more pets or, worse, moving up to humans. "You didn't exactly look the way you look now."

"I was in pajamas?"

"Clark, the being was huge and had these enormous teeth and spikes and red eyes."

He broke into a high pitched laugh. "That's nuts."

"The being," she could not say creature to his face, "he moved like you do. He said my name and recognized me. I...you said you were so strong and fast and that you'd had accidents before. Who else could it be?"

He wrapped his arms around his knees and started to keen, a low whine rising from his throat. "No, I couldn't have. I'm strong, I know, and I know what I said yesterday, but I'm not a monster. I'm not inhuman."

"I never said that."

"Spikes and teeth and red eyes? Eats cats? Sounds like a monster to me. I didn't know. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't."

He kept rocking and mumbling to himself and his eyes began to look classy. She waved her hand in front of them and got no response. "Clark?"

"I didn't. I didn't."

"Clark!"

It changed then, back to a low whine, but he didn't acknowledge her. Desperate, she tried slapping him, but cursed when her hand came back aching. It felt like slapping a brick wall. "Clark?"

He couldn't see her. Oh god, she'd broken him. She had to fix this. Chloe'd only thought the truth would help him protect others and himself. She believed in the truth but maybe he could bear to hear it. There was only one person who could help her.

"Clark, look, um, you stay right here and I'm going to get Davis. He can help me take care of this. Don't move," she said, patting his shoulders. "I'll be back soon.

It was hard to sprint in loafers but she managed to do it, running down the halls until she found the senior locker halls. She just hoped he'd be there between study hall and sixth period. She needed to talk to him. God, they needed to get Clark out of here. She was running so fast, scanning lockers, she didn't even notice when she ran right into someone's chest. She yelped and then hissed as she hit her head on the floor below.

"Chloe?" Davis asked, leaning down to help cradle her. Any other time, this would have been a dream. Davis was popular and attractive and every girl liked him. He was staring down at her with such large brown eyes and right, Clark. The same blind panic raced through her again.

"Davis, oh I've been looking all over for you."

He didn't even have to asked but dragged her up and, to the sounds of cat calls, pulled her into the nearest empty classroom. "Where's Clark? What happened? Did you run an article?"

"No, of course not. I...something happened last night and I had to tell him."

"What happened last night?"

"Davis, I really do not know how to phrase this without either sounding nuts or insensitive, but he ate my cat."

Davis did not laugh as Clark had nor did he accuse her of lying. He merely clenched his jaw and said, "Not again."

"Davis?"

"Chloe, you have to tell me exactly what you saw last night."

She nodded and hesitantly recounted everything she'd told Clark.

"You repeated this to _him_, are you an idiot?" Davis roared.

"What? No! I thought he deserved to know."

"No, he really can't know. It's why mom and I never told him."

"You knew?"

"Of course we knew. There was some kind of bone spike in the cow's remains. Grandfather has it hidden in a family vault. Who do you think worked hard to make sure no one in the apartment complex complained too loudly when pets went missing?"

Chloe's stomach clutched. "He said it was just the cow and your dog."

"As far as he knows, it is, but it's been a lot more. We just don't let him know. Christ, are you brain damaged? You just told someone he's a monster and now you're worried you upset him."

"I thought if I told him, we could figure out how to control it."

"You can't control it. Clark's too strong to keep from getting out if he wants to. We have tried reinforcing his walls and windows, slyly. We just cover up what happens. It's not his fault! He was never supposed to know."

"I'm sorry," she replied, opening the classroom door.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the library. I have to fix this."

"No," Davis snapped. "I think you've done enough. Leave my family and my little brother, alone. Do you understand?"

"I was just trying to help!"

"Then stop helping. We were fine before you came along."

"Davis-"

"Leave him alone!" he said, before rushing out the door.

It had to be her imagination that his eyes seemed redder than normal. Had to be


	6. Chapter 6

"I didn't know. I didn't know. How could I know. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't."

Davis had tried shaking Clark a few times. He didn't dare slap him because all that would do would break his hand. "Squirt, please, you have to snap out of this. I can't get you home if you don't wake up."

"I didn't!" Clark shouted and it made everyone in the library turn to look at them. One of the librarians was rapidly approaching and Davis didn't have time to deal with any of it. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and dialed the emergency number. "Mom, we have a problem."

Clark was sitting on the sofa. He'd stopped ranting to himself. Something about mom's presence and voice had made him snap out enough to at least realize where he was. He was crying though, both because of all the snickers his classmates had leveled at the crazy kid and because of what Chloe had revealed to him. Davis seriously doubted that his brother would ever go back to school again.

Bitch.

What did she know trying to "help" Clark after a day of knowing him? No one took care of his little brother better than their family. Sure, they could be strict, but Clark had extremely special needs. He had to have a family who understood all of them and one that could protect him from whomever came for him. Grandfather's money as well as mother's quick legal mind had protected Clark for years, but none of them had ever bargained on having to protect Clark from the truth about himself.

They'd simply tried hard never to let Clark know about the monstrous impulses he couldn't control.

"Squirt?" Davis asked, reaching out for his brother's knee. "Are you with us?"

Clark looked back up at him, red eyed and distraught. "I'm having a nightmare. Tell me it's a nightmare."

His mother was pacing, smoking cigarettes that she'd given up years ago. "This would be the day dad flew to Singapore for a meeting. He won't be reachable for hours. I just can't believe you two would hide things about Clark and the editor of the school newspaper. Do you know what kind of damage Chloe Sullivan could do?"

Davis nodded. "Mom, I was handling it."

"No, you handle things by coming to me," she said, her hand moving with a flourish that made ash fall from her cigarette. "That's how we've always handled things before. Now, she knows more about Clark than even he did and she could publish whatever she wanted. Do you know how dangerous this is for him."

"Mom," Clark croaked. "I'm sitting right here and it's _my_fault and not Davis's. I'm the one who used my powers when I shouldn't have and I'm the thing that fucking ate her cat."

His mother put out her cigarette and came over immediately to sweep him into a hug. "Sweetheart, don't think like that. None of this is your fault."

"I killed her pet right in front of her and I don't even remember it. I shredded it. How many times have I done things like this?"

Davis eyed mom. "Two or three, that's all."

Clark shook his head. "Your heart sped up. You're lying."

Mom blinked. "You can hear that?"

"New power," Clark said hollowly. "Not as impressive as the Jekyll and Hyde I've apparently been pulling all my life. How many times?"

Mom drew him close to her in a huge. "Maybe a dozen times, baby, it was the cow and then pets around the apartment complex. It was never a human being. I understand that you can't help what you do. You didn't ask to be the way you are and most of the time you're just my Clark."

"But what if it gets to be people, when I get bigger? My powers...I know they're growing."

"It would never be humans, Clark. You're not like that."

"I never thought I'd hurt a cat or a cow or a Schnauzer either!"

"Squirt, calm down. You're going to be fine."

Clark looked up at him and the pain there was so raw that Davis would have given anything to switch places with him. "How can I be fine if I'm some mutant monster?"

His mother looked pale when she spoke. "You're not a mutant. Neither of you were ever mutants."

"Mom?"

"Then where do my powers come from. Chloe mentioned that the people in Smallville were affected by the meteor shower. That has to be why I do the things I do."

"Davis, watch your brother, I'll be back in a few minutes. I have to get something I've been hiding for a long time," mom said as she left the salon hurriedly.

Clark sighed and scratched at his arm. "I wonder how it works."

"Huh?"

"How the spikes come out. It doesn't hurt or I don't remember it hurting. Shouldn't it hurt that much to change into something so different? Shouldn't I remember that?"

"Squirt, don't think about it. 98% of the time, you're just you with extra strength and speed and now hearing. The other 2%...it's just house pets and you can't help it. We understand."

"I don't. How can you and mom and grandfather still even..."

"Even what?"

"Care about me. You should have really turned me over to Cadmus or the military or something. What if I turn into like Godzilla?"

Davis laughed and hugged him. "You're a lot of things, Clark, but Godzilla is not one of them. What if this is just something that happens once in a great while and we find a better way to contain it? What if it slows down and stops? Hell, what if you can learn to control it all Incredible Hulk style. You don't have to assume the worst."

"Wouldn't you though, if it happened to you?"

"But it happens to you," Davis said, ruffling his hair. "And you're the best kid I know. We'll figure this out."

"That's what I like to hear in the Clark household," mom replied. "Self-pity doesn't help anything. It's a good plan that fixes everything."

"You sound like grandfather," Clark snorted. "Like being a boy scout can solve everything."

"I think it's helped us keep both of you safe longer than you can imagine."

Davis frowned. "Us? I thought this was about Clark."

His mother frowned and slipped a silk handkerchief out from her pocket. "No, it's been about protecting both of you. Davis, can you please open this for me."

He shrugged and did as he was ask, gaping at the small metal tablet in his hands. The metal was impossibly smooth, almost frictionless, but what struck him was the odd assortment of symbols. It reminded him a little of hieroglyphics. "Is this Egyptian?"

"No. Your grandfather had the metal analyzed and a dozen language experts separately consulted on it. No one could identify the language and at least 30% of the elements in the metal are unidentifiable."

Clark was smarter than he was, always had been. He did the math first. "That doesn't make any sense, unless you're trying to say it's extraterrestrial, but that's...oh Christ." He blurred then and Davis turned his head away, trying not to hear the retching in the bathroom down the hall.

"Mom, you're nuts."

"I can give you the results if you'd like, but you know it's true, don't you?"

Clark staggered back in, still wiping his face with a damp washcloth. "God, it makes perfect sense. I was never human to begin with and that's...what if this," he said, waving. "Is just some kind of cover? What if I'm getting less human, the older I get. What if one day..."

Davis knew where his brother was going with that thought. "Or maybe it doesn't matter. If mom's right-"

"I am."

"Then it's me too, and I'm not all spikey. We're okay."

Clark looked at Davis as if he were crazy, but his shoulders slumped. He'd run out of energy to fight his family's encouragement. "You found us during the shower, didn't you?"

His mother nodded. "Yes. It's why Jonathan and I didn't stay married. He wanted to turn both of you over to the military and I wouldn't have it. When everything happened with the cow, he was going to use it as a final excuse to get rid of both of you."

"I don't have powers."

"No, you don't. We found both of you wandering in the crater together. It's possible you're not actually brothers."

"You mean that Davis's parents died in a crash or something and he wandered into my crater. So I'm the alien and he's not," Clark replied bitterly.

"Or, sweetheart, it could still mean Davis and you just will develop differently or that only you were ever meant to have powers. We just don't know much about either of you and nothing about where we think you _both_came from."

Clark nodded. "Or everything could just get worse from here. I don't...I can't be here. I need some time to breathe."

"It's best if you stay in the penthouse," mom reminded.

"It's best if you'd turned me over to start," Clark barked back. "Less dead pets." And with that he was gone.

"Clark!"

"Mom, I got this," Davis replied, grabbing his coat. "Don't put out the APB, k? I'll get him back and don't worry about Chloe Sullivan. We're dealing."

"You've not done so well so far."

"You don't have to blackmail. I can handle her," he replied, refusing to wonder why it had been the floor by his bed this morning slicked with blood.


	7. Chapter 7

He listened.

Clark was good at that now. He didn't even know why he could hear her heartbeat, but he could, and he focused in on it until he could find her. He skidded to a stop in the alley beside her browstone. His eyes trailed over the dark red smear that had once been her cat and he heaved, letting the contents of his stomach litter the pavement. He bent over and wretched a second time, coming back up to see Chloe looking at him.

"Clark?"

He wiped the sides of his mouth with his sweater. "I didn't know where else to go."

Chloe frowned and he could hear her heartbeat speed up. "What happened?"

Clark laughed and noted how shrill it was. "I'm not human."

"Clark, shh, come inside. Are you nuts? You can't just say that even outside," she finished, dragging him into the house.

"But I'm not." Was he supposed to be feel like he was chipping off in large pieces, that he was leaving parts of himself spread across the floor. "I'm a monster. A space monster!"

Chloe walked to her sink and started wetting a dishrag. "Clark, shh. My dad's at a meeting but that's...you're not so bad."

"Your heart's beating too fast. You lie."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "My what?"

"I know you're lying okay. I'm a monster."

"Here, oh terrifying one. Have a dish rag, okay?" She snarked, placing the cloth on his forehead. "You're cold."

"Am I?" He said and he couldn't even tell if that was good or bad, couldn't remember if he'd even _felt_cold before.

"A lot," she said, sitting down at the kitchen table across from him. "Now, start over again. You're a what now?"

"Space monster," he replied, cackling again.

She sighed. "Clark, I know the meteor rocks did a lot to you and, really, it's not your fault. I know you didn't ask to be all spikey, I really get that-"

"No, you don't understand. I wasn't _exposed_to the meteor shower. I _was_the meteor shower."

She stopped and gaped at him, working her jaw as if trying to come back with a pithy response. "What?"

"Mom sat us down today and explained to me and Davis that she found us during the meteor shower, in a crater. The ship is under lock and key in a special vault of grandfather's. Chloe, it all makes sense. The spikey deal? I...what if that's what I'm _growing into_?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if I'm a baby whatever the fuck I am? What if I'll get bigger? What if I spend less and less time even looking human."

Chloe swallowed and he could see the corners of her eyes watering. His eyes never missed much. "That's ridiculous. You're fine."

"This morning I ate your cat and then went catatonic. I'm anything but fine."

"But space monster, Clark? Are you high? I...okay, say your mom's right and you came in the shower-"

"She is right."

"Okay, that all happened and yes, the spikey version did eat my cat and I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's not all you are."

"You don't know me."

"Then why are you here?"

He pulled the cool cloth from off the back of his neck. "I don't have anywhere else to go. I can't be there, not right now, when Mom knew and didn't tell me. I don't have any friends. I've never had any friends."

"Is that what we are?"

"Friends don't eat friends cats, I know. I didn't mean to."

Chloe laughed and he liked the sound. "You didn't eat me. We'll call it even and we'll do something."

"Something?" he asked, hating that his voice cracked a little.

"I...we'll just have to find out more about you. Not like a lab, but, I dunno, we can like figure stuff out. What if we just set up a camera while you slept-not to sound stalkery-I mean, we could maybe trace the transformation. Get video of what it looks like. Maybe even find your triggers."

"Triggers?"

"Well a lot of metamorphoses take emotional triggers, at least in stories. Maybe you just need to get some inner Zen master."

"I'm a space monster."

"You keep saying that. Clark, your mom and Davis have kept you safe for a long time. I think maybe they can help figure things out better. I mean, Davis doesn't change does he?"

"He never changed, just me."

Chloe deflated at that. "Well, you're not a bad person, you just like cats. We'll just keep you away from them."

"You're making this worse."

"Why did you come to see me then?"

"I...tell me I'm okay, Chloe. I just want someone to tell me it's okay."

"I bet Davis and your mom did."

"They have to say that. They're family. _You_say it."

She frowned. "Why does it matter what I think?"

_Because I like you._

"Because you're smart."

"I think you need to get some sleep. You clearly haven't had any in a while. Clark, go an lie down on the sofa. It'll be okay with some sleep. I promise."

He sighed and set the rag down on the table. "You promise?"

"Always."

"He came here?" Davis half-shouted. "He just wants to come over and see you?"

Chloe looked over his shoulder into the living room where Clark still slept. "Shh, he's resting. He hasn't slept in over 24 hours, not if the other him had to go out hunting."

"Other him?"

"I...what do you call it?"

Davis frowned back at her. "I sometimes think of it as The Beast."

Chloe felt something deep twist in her stomach. "You what?"

"The Beast. It's what I've always thought of it, back when I found what was left of the cow on our farm. I...you're right. It's _not_Clark and it's never been Clark. It's like he's lashed to it."

"Exactly. Maybe there's a way to make it stop, make it go away. I'm not talking needles or drugs, but, I dunno like hypnotism? Meditation? We have to have some option on how to help him. He's a good guy. I can't accept that he's just gonna turn full out into some monster and be trapped like that."

Davis eyed her and she stood as tall as she could, and ignored the way her heart fluttered. A week ago, if she'd been told the senior class president would be in her kitchen, she'd laughed. No one ever noticed her for good things. Now? Now not only was he here, but he and she were trying to figure out how to keep his little brother from turning into Godzilla. "Why do you care?"

"I care because he saved my life and because no one deserves to be so scared. I wanna help him."

"Do you wanna make a story out of him?"

"I said I didn't."

"Mom says I have to take care of this, take care of you," he replied, leaning closer and she shivered again. "Usually with us, that means we pay you off and threaten to bury you legally if you ever think of talking about Clark."

"Are you going to?"

"No because I can't be what you are."

"Huh?"

"I'm his big brother and he has mom and grandfather but he needs a best friend. He needs someone who's not in his family to tell him he's wanted. God, have you ever met a kid whose best friend from 3 to 14 was his stupid red blanket."

"You're kidding."

"Not really. He has a whole Linus thing with the blanket mom wrapped around him when she found us. He can't sleep well without it. I'm amazed he even crashed now."

"That's so sad."

Davis nodded. "Now you're beginning to get it. He may need you, Chloe, but I have to believe you aren't going to hurt us."

"Us?"

Davis swallowed. "I don't have any abilities, but I doubt that'd matter if anyone found my ship. So, yes, _us_. If you want in on this, I have to have your promise that you won't hurt either of us, ever."

Chloe swallowed, looking into deep brown eyes. "Never."

"Good, I hope you mean that."

"I do." She sighed and walked into her living room, smoothing Clark's bangs back from his forehead. "I feel like I just adopted a puppy."

"A big one with saber tooth tiger teeth and spikes?"

"I dunno but the way you take care of him...he's lucky to have a brother like you."

"I hope mom and grandfather think he's lucky to have a friend like you."

"What?"

"Because we're all going to see them when he wakes up."


	8. Chapter 8

Let me get this straight," Grandfather said, staring at him. "Instead of threatening a _reporter_into silence. You invite her over to her house to 'join the family?'"

Davis swallowed and sat back in the leather chair in the salon. "She's not a bad person." In fact, there was something about her spunk that, while annoying, Davis also found endearing. If she were a senior...well, she seemed like a better option than the air-headed cheerleaders who flocked around him normally. She was, however, barely out of pigtails and his thoughts were stupid.

"She's a repoter. She may be an amateur, but one reporter anywhere is enough to hurt both you and your brother. What if she publishes about what he did to her cat?"

"No one would believe her."

"With the mutation record in Lowell County and the rumors about Belle Reeve, including that insect creature, I sincerely doubt that. I trusted you, Davis."

Davis nodded and raised his chin high. "Clark needs her."

"Clark needs protection. He needed to stay at home with his tutors. Your mother and you prevailed upon my better judgment. He was never meant to-"

"To what? To deal with the outside world. Clark's special but he's not just...The Beast isn't all he is."

"I never said that. I love your brother dearly, but he has to be protected at all costs. If anyone found out what he really was...do you want to see him cut open in a lab?"

"Never, but what's the point of his life if he stays locked up in the Penthouse? Is he going to stay here another ten years? Another twenty? Til you die? Is he ever going to be allowed to be in the world or just see it from afar?"

"He's been talking to you, lobbying you into his foolishness."

"I'm glad mom took him out to get ice cream," Davis replied. "He shouldn't hear this. Wanting a real life isn't foolish. Clark wants what everyone else has. I get to have a life and I came on the same ship, didn't I?"

Accepting that he was an extraterrestrial was easier than Davis would have thought. Perhaps because he'd known he'd been found in the shower, perhaps because he felt no different and had no abilities or oddities, but he thought it was more related to Clark and his baby brother's future being his sole concern. Clark mattered right now. Davis could worry about what the ship mean to him later.

"You know why," Grandfather replied, shaking his head. "He's not like everyone else and you _are_."

"He feels like any person would. He wants what everyone else does. Locking him up is cruel."

"Letting him live freely and have his true nature exposed is worse. I can't see my grandson cut apart. It would _kill_your mother."

"He's dying."

"You're brother is fine."

"He won't be. You can't keep him here forever. Whatever is innocent in him is gonna die."

"Better than-"

"The government. You don't even know Chloe. She has had three days to turn on him. She could have gone to The Daily Planet at anytime. She could have told her dad."

"Yes who works directly under Lionel Luthor who's long been associated with Cadmus Labs. Brilliant."

"She's waiting outside you know."

"I do. Your mother was smart to take Clark away. He doesn't want to hear what I have to say to her."

"She's not bad."

"I'll be the judge of that, bring her in."

Davis refrained just barely from rolling his eyes. Grandfather had a way with orders. When he got outside into the foyer, he found Chloe chewing her nails and looking anxiously up at him.

"Is this the Spanish Inquisition?"

Davis smiled. "It's a little harder. You just...you have to convince him like you did me."

"And how did I do that?"

Davis opened the door for her. "You did it by showing me how good you are with him. I don't want you to feel like you're being used, but, like I said, this is his first chance to ever have a friend of his own. I've never seen anyone have a way with him, even mom, the way you do."

She frowned before she passed into the next room. "Cause I could get him to fall asleep? Not that hard. He was exhausted."

Davis sighed and leaned against the frame. "You don't understand. Clark _needs_that blanket or he needs me and mom. He can't fall asleep and stay asleep on his own."

"He's fourteen, not three."

"He has nightmares. He always has. I don't know if it's because of that other half of himself or if it's because he remembers more about the trip here than I do, but he hates the dark and he hates being alone. If he fell asleep in your house, it's cause you make him feel comfortable."

"I just was me."

"Then be you with William Clark, attorney at law," he replied following her into the study and pulling up a seat in the chair across from his grandfather's. "Grandfather, Chloe Sullivan. Chloe Sullivan, Grandfather."

Chloe smiled politely and shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you sir."

"I wish I could say the same."

"Grandfather!"

"It's true. Young lady, I've buried people far less impressive than you."

If Chloe were nervous, she didn't show it. "I've interviewed more impressive."

"Chloe," Davis hissed.

"I know what you want to do. You want to tell me that you can sue my father into the next century or that you can have me kicked out of St. Stephen's. Maybe you'll call up George Taylor, Sr. and have me blackballed from The Daily Planet before I even graduate high school. Honestly, sir, I could care less."

Grandfather studied her like an insect under glass. "You just met my son."

"He risked everything to keep me from breaking my back. I don't turn on anyone who saves my life. Against my code."

"So I am supposed to allow you into our fold because you feel you owe Clark? What happens when you stop feeling indebted? People fail; they fall short."

"Clark told me about his adopted father."

"Jonathan," Davis snapped. "Was never our father." And truly he wasn't. Martha would always be mom. She took them both in, protected them fiercely, saved them from the military and Jonathan's judgment. Her ex-husband?

Total slime.

"He did now," Grandfather replied, tone still calm.

"I know that you've been burned before. I understand that."

"We had to work hard to keep Jonathan from talking. I won't have you change your mind in a month or a year and then turn them both in for a Pulitzer."

"Clark saved my life. I don't know about you, but that matters immensely to me. I'd be dead or paralyzed if not for him, the angle I was falling, but, sir, truly, it's more than that."

"What is it?"

"I..." she looked to Davis and bit her lip.

Like he'd thought before, cute.

"...he spared my life too. The Beast, whatever it is inside of him, it won't hurt me. I see how sad he is, how lonely. I can't leave him like that. I...maybe there's a way to fix this. I dunno, meditation or something like that. If I had time just to research. Science might not be the answer, it could be more a psychosomatic connection. I just...how could anyone meet him and leave him like this?"

Chloe must have won the 25,000 Dollar Pyramid because Grandfather actually smiled. "Miss Sullivan, welcome to the family."

Clark and mom had come home and immediately upon Chloe, he'd broken into a broad smile and taken her to his room, ostensibly to show off his Nintendo Game Cube, as if Chloe would care about such a thing. Davis had to smile at that. Clark had it bad. Maybe while Davis was away next year at Harvard, something would blossom between them. He hoped so, despite Clark's differences. Surely a case of puppy love couldn't hurt anything.

Although, something deep down, well it felt like it rumbled at the thought of Chloe with his brother, but that was stupid wasn't it?

He was just happy for his brother, to have anyone at all.

Besides, she was far too young anyway.


	9. Chapter 9

Clark was an amusing mix of quiet reserve and five year old. The way he rushed around his "room" (if one counted a room the size of her family's whole apartment a room), showing her all his video games and books was adorable, even if she could care less what a Dreamcast was. She smiled the whole way, knowing this was the first time he'd ever had anyone in his room who wasn't family, the staff, or a tutor.

God, in 14 years?

What would a life like that be like?

"You're staring."

"You're showing me your signed Arthur C. Clarke collection. I'm looking at it."

Clark scrunched up his face a little as he scrutinized her. "You're definitely eying me. I'm sorry; I must be boring you."

"Not at all. I just can't really tell one video game from the other."

He nodded. "I guess that would be lame."

"Clark-"

"See," he said, rummaging aroud in his closet. "I was waiting a little before I showed you this." He pulled out a small cardboard box, which seemed to be shaking on its own.

"Um?"

"Just open it. I had to...well I promise to do better."

Chloe frowned but took the box. "If this is some like rat inside..."

"It's not."

"Oh my God!" Chloe squealed-she was allowed, she was a girl-picking up her present, a small siamese kitten with the most gorgeous blue eyes and a tiny pink collar. "She's adorable."

"I'm sorry about your cat. I never meant to do anything to it. I know it's not that same, but please take care of her. I call her Dinah."

"Like the cat in _Alice in Wonderland_?"

He nodded. "It's always been a favorite. I won't eat her."

Chloe faked her best smile. He couldn't actually promise that but she knew whatever control he had, he would try to use over the Beast. "I know you'll try and that's what matters. Clark, Davis and I were talking-"

"Do you guys think I need to go back to tutors?"

She shook her head. "I know that what happened in the library, but this is St. Stephen's, people will forget. Next week the Homecoming Queen nominee will turn out pregnant or there'll be a coke-not the soda-scandal. People will forget and what do you care what they think?"

"Cause Davis is probably gonna get to be like Prom King and Most Popular in his yearbook and everyone is gonna laugh when I walk by."

Chloe set Dinah down on the floor to play and hugged Clark. "Let them. We're cool together."

He frowned at her. "I ate your cat."

"I was aware," she replied.

"Why do you want to be my friend then?"

"I..."

His eyes widened and so fast, far faster than she could really see, he'd scooped up Dinah and was rocking her a little. "You pity me."

"I-"

"You're hanging out with me cause you feel sad that I'm a space monster."

"You should stop saying that. I'm hanging out with you because you saved my life and you're smart and will be my minion. The Beast thing...we can solve it."

Clark laughed bitterly and it startled Dinah into running out of his arms and under his bed. "What's your solution? Some warm milk at night? Keep me sleeping so I won't escape?"

She shook her head, "Have you ever tried meditation?"

Martha, cigarette in hand, eyed her eldest. Taking Clark to the ice cream parlor had been a way to distract him and to keep his new hearing from picking up on the condemnation she was sure that her father would set on Chloe. Her special boy didn't need to overhear that and be reminded of what he could and couldn't do, could and couldn't _be_. Father was never supposed to readily accept a stranger into their world and certainly not a reporter.

"Why is she still here?"

"What?"

"Why is she still here?" she hissed. "Clark's going to be distracted with her for a while, but why are we not blackmailing her?"

"We don't actually have to do that with everyone."

"It worked with everyone else whose cat disappeared or who suspected Clark was just like everyone else. Davis, I've told you over and over again loyalty is fleeting but leverage is forever."

She sighed. Once she'd detested the way her father thought, the maneuvering in Metropolis. Maybe she just hated how naturally good she was at it. At twenty-five, she'd been idealistic and believed in people. After Jonathan? People were to be controlled, obstacles to move past, the barriers that could take her boys away. Doing whatever it took short of outright murder was the credo she lived by and coddling a cub reporter was not their modus operandi.

"I know mom."

"Father must be going senile."

"Mom!"

She took a harried puff. "Why am I supposed to trust her?"

"Have you ever even talked to her?"

"I don't need to talk to her. We're the only ones who understand Clark."

"Maybe we don't."

She blinked, offended. No one understood her boy better than she did. "What are you saying?"

"You didn't see him."

"When?"

"The first day of school, after her got his hearing, I found him huddled in my room. He'd been crying, mom, for a long time. He didn't in front of me, but his eyes were so red. He's incredibly depressed."

"He has everything someone could ask for-the finest things, the best tutors, a great family."

"He wants a friend."

She ground her cigarette out in her ash tray. "Friends are a luxury that he can't afford. We're putting all our trust in this girl. What if she's setting us up? Waiting to gather enough proof on Clark to send to The Inquisitor?"

"She _hates_The Inquisitor, Clark said so."

"Or the Planet? What if she gets bored with this project of hers?"

"Project?"

She nodded. "Don't be naive. She pities him. She wants to save him. You know she can't. So what is going to happen when she realizes her efforts are futile?"

"We have to take that risk. Mom, we can't keep Clark locked up here like a dangerous pitbull. He's burning out. If we protect him too much, all that will be left is a shell clinging to his red blanket and The Beast."

"I wish you wouldn't call him that."

"I'm _not_," Davis huffed and she didn't appreciate his tone. "I separate it in my mind. We all do. There's Clark and there's The Beast and they're last together somehow. Just because it's true, doesn't mean that during the day he can't try and have a more normal life."

"He's not. He has to have special considerations. I can't lose him Davis and I won't."

"You're already losing him, mom. What you love in him is going to die if we keep him caged. I know you're scared but we don't have a choice. She's good for him."

"He's got his first crush since the Lang girl. This one's real, not a five year old, but a real teenage first love on his end. How is that going to play out?"

Davis smiled lopsidedly. "I hope that she can make it puppy love."

"And if she can't love him back? If this is pity or just a lark, how is he going to feel then?"

"Better than if he'd never had a friend at all. He'll be fifteen this year and his only friend is a fucking blanket-"

"Don't curse, young man."

"Is a blanket. It's time to trust him just a little. You have to learn to let go."

She sighed and twisted the ring on her right hand, a beautiful opal that her father had given her for her 40th birhthday, a quiet replacement for the ring that had turned out to mean nothing. "I can't lose him...if he ends up in a lab because of her-"

"He won't. I promise."

"Alright, if you trust her so much, I want to talk to her alone myself, woman to woman."

"Mom!"

"You already had your time to pitch, I want to see this 'magic' in action."

When Martha walked into her son's room, she had to admit it was hard not to smile. She'd rarely seen her boy's expression so joyful or him laugh so hard. They were playing with a small kitten, which she had no idea where it'd come from, who was tangled up in an old jump rope of Clark's and trying to chew it's way out of the nylon cord. Chloe was giggling and leaning into Clark's side, dangling a clean sock over the siamese's head. It was the scene that she had been waiting all her life to see. There were, however, illusions too. If Chloe were tricking them, well, she'd live to regret it.

"Mom, hey!" Clark called. "Did you get to meet Dinah?"

She eyed the tiny kitten and made her most stern face (though failed cause at the moment the adorable ball of fluff sneezed), "Where did she come from?"

Clark blushed. "I might have run to a breeder in Omaha, but she's so cool. I mean, her great great great grandmother was a national champion. She comes from the best line."

"Well, nothing but the best," she finished.

Chloe's eyes were huge. "Clark, Morris was from the pound. You didn't have to do this."

"I didn't...well Morris shouldn't have died at all; just let me do this, please."

She nodded and scooped up her new kitten, kissing her on the top of her head. "Alright, but nothing else. You don't have to buy someone."

Clark frowned. "I wasn't. I was making amends. It's different."

Chloe nodded and squeezed his arm. If this were all an act, then the girl deserved an Oscar. "Okay and I admit, she is amazing, but you don't have to apologize. You couldn't help it and you stopped. I mean, you didn't hurt me at all. I think that's probably a good bit of progress already."

Clark paled, thinking about his other half, Martha was sure. "I...thank you."

"Clark, Davis is playing basketball down in the complex's gym. Would you like to go?"

"That's code for girl talk time, isn't it?"

"Yes, Chloe please leave Dinah with Cynthia and join me alone in my office."

Seeing the girl gulp was satisfying.

"You know," Chloe riffed. "You all are tougher to get past than the secret service."

"We deal with someone more important."

"Look, Mrs. Kent, Davis and Clark told me about their father."

"Jonathan wasn't much of one. He wanted to turn them both over to the authorities the minute we found them and he never really warmed to either. After Clark proved to be so strong, it was never the same."

"Well you moved a few days after because of the cow."

Martha was surprised. "Davis shared that?"

"Clark. He didn't know, I guess, how he'd done it. He just said Davis told him the day they moved that the cow got smushed. He doesn't remember doing it."

"Of course he doesn't. His changing doesn't work that way. He never remembers; there's just carnage in his wake."

"You sound so pessimistic."

"He was never supposed to know. You ruined that for him. His self image is ruined. Can you rebuild it?"

"I didn't-"

"You didn't think. I'm the one that holds him at night when he has nightmares or when he's scared or sad. I'm the one who takes care of him. Now I have to put him back together. When you're bored with him, I'm the one who'll still love him."

"I'm not gonna leave now. I don't walk away from things."

"Like projects?"

"Like people who need me. I'm not going anywhere."

Martha nodded and considered her coolly. Someone so small and inconsequential shouldn't be ruining her life and threatening her son's existence. "You say a word to anyone and I will bury you. I won't stop at you, Chloe. Your father will lose his job, your cousin, Lois, will lose her college scholarships, compromising pics of Sam Lane will be photoshopped into existence. Do you understand me?"

Chloe didn't even gulp. "I do."

"Fine then. We understand each other. See that you don't break him or I'll break you."

END PART ONE


	10. Chapter 10

Part II - Growin Pains, Year One

Clark sighed and breathed in deeply. He was sitting cross legged at the foot of his bed. Chloe was sitting on it, a purring Dinah settled in her lap.

"This isn't working."

Chloe shook her head. "Close your eyes first and concentrate. I think what you need to do is really get in touch with The Beast."

Clark shuddered. It had been a month with Chloe, practicing different meditation techniques she'd researched, and he didn't feel any different than he had before. He just felt ridiculous and like he should be saying "ohm" a lot. It had been a month since he'd been told about his other half and Clark still couldn't remember ever doing anything to cats or dogs or the cow on the farm.

He still just felt like himself, every day stronger and faster and with thicker skin, but he honestly couldn't feel some monster lurking underneath his skin.

"Clark?"

"Sorry. I just..." he started, holding up his hand. "What do you think it's like?"

"What?"

"When I change. Why doesn't it hurt? I mean bones and spikes everywhere out of my arms and it doesn't hurt."

Chloe smiled and it was pained. Clark wasn't completely stupid. As nice as she was, as cool as she was to hang out with here and at The Monitor school paper, Chloe felt sorry for him. She pitied whatever kind of freak he was. He wished she wasn't always so sad when she was with him. It wasn't that she didn't laugh or make jokes or enjoy his company, it was more that there was always this edge between them.

"It's best that you don't feel it. I don't think it'd feel very good."

"I don't remember even hurting Morris. I remember everything and I can't remember all the horrible things I do."

" The Beast did them," Chloe reminded staunchly. "It wasn't you. You're not the same, you're just tied together."

Clark nodded. "What if we aren't though? What if we are the same? What if one day I am always The Beast?"

"What if one day The Beast goes away and you're always just Clark. Come on, let's try again, maybe if we find a way to get rid of or make the beast dormant, you'll be just like Davis."

"Or maybe Davis isn't even an alien. Maybe he just wandered into my crater and I'm the 'lucky' traveler."

Chloe eased herself off the bed and sat down next to him. Smiling she handed him Dinah and gave him a small peck on the cheek, "It'll be okay. I promise."

Clark gulped and felt his eyes itch a little.

"I trust you."


	11. Chapter 11

****Part II "Growing Pains" - Heat Vision (year one)********

In which there is heat vision...

_Clark_

"Chloe, can we talk?" Clark asked, shifting nervously from foot to foot. He was standing by her locker and he couldn't believe how fast a year had come and gone. He still didn't feel like he was any closer to controlling the Beast half of himself, but he was pretty skilled at yoga and meditation. He just couldn't seem to reach that other self raging inside of him. Of course, pets hadn't gone missing in the last eight months but he didn't consider it a complete success until he truly understood what triggered him.

He needed to stop it, to banish it away, before it consumed him.

Chloe was helping. God she was everything to him. She was his best and only friend, and the only kid he hung out with outside of his brother Davis who was heading to Metropolis University in the fall. Grandfather had been furious that Davis had turned down admission to Harvard and Princeton (William Clark wanted a next generation of brilliant litigators), but he knew mom was thrilled. If Davis stayed in the city and lived in the penthouse, it meant that his brother could continue to watch after him.

Clark was offended on some level he needed a sitter, but mainly relieved. He had four people in the world who knew who he really was and cared about him. Losing Davis would have been losing a quarter of his world.

"Clark?" Chloe asked, waving her hand in front of his face. "Pardon the expression, but Earth to Clark?"

Clark gulped, embarrassed that he'd been caught wandering in his thoughts. "Oh."

She smiled and rubbed his arm. "Clark, it's alright. That wasn't funny."

"No, it's fine. I'd rather you not tiptoe around my feelings all the time and I was being spacey."

She nodded. "What did you want?"

"I...Chlo, it's that the spring formal is coming up and I don't have a date and I've never been to a dance before."

Chloe got that look on her face, the one he half-hated where he could tell she was pitying him. "I didn't realize."

"Well most of the dances are pretty lame but Spring Formal is half prom and I really wanted to be able to go. I mean it's a bigger deal for seniors like Davis, but I thought it'd be fun. It, uh, can be a friend-friend thing if you like."

Chloe smiled more broadly. "Oh that'd be great. We can do a big group thing. Davis's friends and date, us. A limo and stuff like that. Really do it up cool for your first time!"

"Oh you mean we'd do it with my brother?"

"Well a group for all of us. It'd make it less lonely in the limo. I just thought-"

"Oh I was just being stupid." He said, pulling away from her a little.

"Clark?"

"I have to get going. I need to inform grandfather and Davis of the plans and we'll get dinner reservations and everything. If you need help with paying for any dress-"

"Daddy's been saving up for a year and I shop at Macy's! Clark, I told you. I don't need you to buy me anything."

"Except for Dinah."

"Yes except for Dinah. I just want you to be happy."

"I am," she replied, kissing his cheek. "I'll see you after school."

"Sure, Chlo," he replied, watching as she walked off to the next period, resenting his brother just a little for the spell he put on everyone, even the girl Clark loved the most.

"Mom! Mom! Guess what!" Clark exclaimed as her blurred into reality in front of her. Nonchalantly, he picked up an orange and grinned more when she slapped him on the hand.

"Dinner's in forty minutes. Don't spoil your appetite."

"Mom, I could eat a dozen oranges and be fine. Superspeed takes it out of a guy."

His mom smiled. "I know. I don't know how I'd ever afforded you on a farm."

"Um, you'd have grown extra bushels just for me."

His mom laughed. "The way you eat, it's almost truckloads."

"I wonder about that. Do you think I need that much to support the change when I become The Beast?"

She closed her eyes and expelled a deep breath. "Clark, I wish Davis had never started calling you that."

"I think it works. I don't know exactly if that's who I am or not, but it does feel separate, like there's me and then there's that other half of who I am that I can't control or reach even. It feels like I'm lashed to it."

"I know, baby, but you don't have to think about it."

"It's something I always think about though," he admitted, peeling into his pilfered fruit. "I just wish I knew how it worked and why so I could shut it off. I thought the meditation would help and, I mean, in some ways it does make me feel less anxious, but I don't think I've exactly reached out and gotten to know my beastly half."

"Clark, sweetheart, what you do I'm sure wasn't terrible or beastly where you're from."

"Davis doesn't-"

"Davis doesn't do a lot of things. Did you ever consider that he's the deficient one?"

"Yeah cause turning into a spikey monster is awesome," he snarked, biting into a slice of orange.

"That's not how I meant it, exactly, but maybe he was abnormal on your planet and this is just how things were. For all we know your people hunted like this and it was just like how people her used to hunt down wild game to survive."

"Yeah but without the red eyes and sabertooth tiger teeth."

"But maybe it's just something your people evolved to do. Instead of clubs or bows and arrows, hunting like that. It's not that what you do is wrong exactly."

"I ate Chloe's cat!"

"I've considered often just moving us to the country, buying an estate out somewhere in upstate New York with plenty of land, just so when you change, you'd have space to chase down deer or rabbits."

Clark frowned and chewed his piece thoughtfully. "This is a weird conversation."

"I just thought about it, but as secluded as you've grown up, frankly, I didn't want you out of the city and away from people all the time. I didn't think the occasional well..."

"Tabby cat? Schnauzer?" he added bitterly.

"Well yes, was worth it. We've managed to contain you well enough and to cover for you. We just didn't think that locking you up essentially on your own acreage would be fair."

"You and grandfather sound like you weren't just considering it."

"When you were about six, we looked into it seriously, even priced out real estate."

"Good to know."

She sighed and touched his shoulder gently. "Clark, you're human most of the time, and changed so rarely. It's hard sometimes to know what's best for you and how to keep you safe without smothering. I've seen you blossom this year and I'm sorry we kept you from other kids so long."

"I'm the one who almost crippled someone forever in middle school. I think I had to have time too. I just...I wish I were like Davis even if this could have been normal where I'm from."

"I know, but you have to realize that it probably won't ever go away, honey. The best thing you can do now is work hard and ignore it."

"But I can't if it's in me."

"But it's not even a fraction of who you are. So, before we derailed the conversation, what has you so bouncy?"

Clark sighed. That was Martha Clark for shutting down a line of questioning. He understood why. Talking about that other side of his nature scared her badly. It wasn't that she was scared of The Beast, not since she'd been practicing trying to contain since before he could even speak English. She thought it upset him. Once, it had. It was impossible to find out you were a red-eyed, slobbering monster and not be traumatized. But now it was more an obsession for him-figure out what he was and figure out how to contain it. Deep down, he was more terrified that if he didn't find a way to master that side of himself, that one day it'd overtake him, become all that was left of him.

"Guess who has a date to Spring Formal and his name isn't Davis."

His mom forced a smile and Clark wanted to bang his head on the counter. He would have too if it wouldn't have shattered the granite. "Baby, that's great."

_Once more with feeling, mom._

"Guess who said yes," he sing-songed.

"Chloe Sullivan," his mom replied, winking. "Don't have to be psychic to guess that one."

"Yup. I want to do it right. Davis is already getting a limo for him, Jenna, and their four best friends. I figure we could tag along anyway. Do the best dinner in the city for all of us. I mean I offered to buy her any dress she wanted, but she said Macy's was fine for her. Man, mom, I'd make her a diamond or ten if she'd take them."

"Honey, I think we explained that throwing money around doesn't make a girl like you for the right reasons after you bought her Dinah."

"I ate her cat," he groused. "She needed a new one."

"Dinah was an expensive show quality cat. We have the money but I'm trying to explain not why it's wrong-cause money is money and why hoard all of it if you don't have to-but because it makes people like you only for your things."

"Chloe's not like that."

His mom's smile turned to genuine. "Which is why she won't take diamonds and designer dresses from you. It's a little circular. You could date a girl you could impress that way, but she wouldn't be worth your time. With Chloe, the best way to impress her is-"

"To be myself, I know. I still want to do this up right, yanno? The other kids are kind of mean to her cause, even if her dad makes good money, he's still basically Lionel's secretary. I just wanted her to feel like Cinderella for a night."

"Honey," his mom said, opening the oven to take out the pot roast. "She'll have a great night, I'm sure of it, whether her dress cost a hundred dollars or could have cost a thousand, because it'll be with you."

Clark blurred over to the oven and took the tray out himself. "Mom, let me do it. I don't burn, okay?"

"Of course."

He smiled and picked off a small piece of the roast, dodging her playful slap this time. "Hey, mom?"

"Yes?"

"Which do you think looks better with grey skin and spikes: tails and a top hat or modern sleek."

"Oh Clark."

"Squirt, you really shouldn't joke about The Beast. Mom and I talked after dinner. She doesn't think it's funny. In fact, it really upsets her."

Clark sighed and kept tossing the football up over his head from where he lay in his bed. "I thought if I could joke about it, it shows I'm adjusting."

"It's not something to joke about. You know that. If you have to do it, do it with me or Chloe."

"I...sometimes it just slips out. I don't like it. You know I fucking hate it, but you have to admit some sabertoothed monster in a tux is sort of funny."

Davis sighed and grabbed the football out of midair, forcing him to make eye contact with his older brother. "It's not. You're not just some Beast, Clark."

"It helps me to have the image somehow, like it's not that scary. I'm sorry it makes mom freak out. God, I wish I were you."

"I know. So, tell me about the big date."

Clark sat up but didn't relish this part. Planning things out over dinner with mom was fun. Talking about it with Davis was not. Clark wasn't stupid. He knew going as "just friends" wasn't what _he_wanted but seemed to be what Chloe was comfortable with. Besides, he wasn't blind-far from-and he knew that Chloe was crushing on Davis.

Everyone always did.

"Well, is it bad if a girl wants to 'just be friends?'"

"Huh?"

"I asked her and she said yes but she wants it to be a friend thing and I already agreed to go with all you all as a group thing."

"She suggested that, huh?"

Clark sighed and started picking at the oak of his bed, shaving off slivers with his fingernails.

"Squirt?"

"I don't want to be 'just friends' with her. I'm in love with her."

"You're a little young to know. It's a crush, squirt."

"No, I know I love her. She's amazing. I just know, Davis. She's like the best."

"She's the only girl you talk to. I think maybe you need to go from there, and realize that sometimes with the fact you're only fifteen that it's not forever, Clark."

He frowned. It felt forever. Was that weird? God, was it some weird alien monster thing?

"What do you mean 'forever?'"

"I said that outloud, didn't I?"

"Yes, what does that mean?"

"I...do you not feel it? That it's supposed to be just one person for forever. Not in even a Hallmark sense," he said, blushing to the tips of his ears. "I mean like it has to be that way, like your whole body is screaming it. That sounds alien too, doesn't it?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I wish we weren't so different so I could understand more of what you feel and think, Clark. I'll never understand why we're not the same."

"Me neither."

"Look, I have to go get something."

"Huh?"

"I have to run an errand. You keep planning that big night with mom. If she's gonna be Cinderella then you'll knock them dead as Prince Charming."

Clark sighed, "Or literally as the dragon."

_Davis_

Davis knocked on the door of Chloe's apartment and was relieved that she seemed to be alone.

"Davis?"

"Hey, I need to come in. I know it's late."

"It's ten but Lionel had a conference call to Brunei and daddy won't be back til after midnight. I still have some geometry to figure out. Come in!"

Davis nodded and shut the door behind him. Taking a seat on the living room sofa, he looked up at her. "We need to talk."

"Do you need a soda for that?"

He shook his head. "I heard you and Clark are going as _friends_to the Spring Formal.

"Yeah and why does 'friends' get air quotes?" she asked, sitting in the arm chair perpendicular to him.

"Because he wants it to be a regular date."

"I told him it was a friends thing and that we'd all go as a group."

"He knows that. He knows you told him that. He even knows that 'just friends' is a kiss of death invitation. None of that is news to him."

"Then why are you here?"

"I have two things to say. First," he started, pausing as Dinah, now fully grown, lept onto his lap to be petted. "Ahem, first, he's in love with you."

"What?"

"Clark's in love with you. I need to know how you feel about him."

Chloe smiled when Dinah wandered over to her lap. "He's a great friend. I do love him but more like a brother. I honestly never saw myself going out with him."

"Cause you pity him?"

"No, it's not like that. I think he's amazing. I think he's got more strength than anyone I've ever met and it's not because of his abilities. I think if most anyone else had found out about being what he is, they'd have crumbled. He's done so well."

"Is The Beast why you don't love him? Is it because he's a monster?"

"He's not!"

"Good. I would be disappointed if you really did think of him like that."

She grabbed Dinah tighter. "Never, I'd never think that."

"But you don't love him?"

"I...no, there's someone else," she said, blushing.

Davis got it then. "Oh Chloe."

"Don't. Don't say you're flattered. I know it's stupid. I know you can any girl you want and that you're older and you're about to go to college. I know all of that."

He leaned forward towards her, his voice lower. "Chloe, I've had a lot of girls develop a crush on me. This is not the first time. It's really not. You'll find someone closer to your own age. I can't help if you never feel that way about Clark and he'll have to learn that you can't help it either, I know."

"I don't love you because of the football thing. That's stupid or cause you're cute."

"You think I'm cute?"

She blushed again and he wasn't sure why that warmed him. It definitely shouldn't have.

"I love you because of how you take care of Clark. You could have been at UCLA or Harvard or Stanford, any college you wanted, and we all know it. Instead you chose Met U so you could be home on the weekends, so he could still have someone close to his age around besides me. You're sacrificing a lot of freedom for him. Hell, Harvard or Stanford would punch your ticket for life in a way Met U can't."

"He's what matters. He's so alone without us."

"I know that. I just...no one really knows the real you either. How you care so deeply about your family, how protective and kind you truly are. That's why I love you."

"Chloe, I can't."

"Cause I'm fifteen?"

"For one, but it would kill Clark if we ever took up together. You know this."

"I know. I can't help how I feel anymore than Clark can."

"I think you could, actually."

"Why?"

"Because I think part of what Clark feels isn't human."

He could watch the frown marring her normally pretty features. No matter what Chloe said, she did pity his brother and he didn't know if she'd ever move past that. She was never condescending with Clark but he knew her sadness for him, kept her from ever being able to love him as anything more than a brother.

"I don't understand."

"I don't feel this. There's so many things that Clark and I just don't have in common because of his abilities and the fact I don't have any."

"I hate to be dense because usually I'm not, but what does he feel?"

"I can't define it exactly. I just got the impression from him that, please forgive the term, it's a mate thing."

"Excuse me?"

"What type of mate thing?"

"I don't know, but I think Clark feels on an instinctual, emotional level that even he doesn't understand that he only is supposed to love one person ever. I don't want to use the word 'imprint' exactly, but-"

He watched Chloe pale. "I just don't feel that way about him. I'm sorry. I'd do anything for him. I'd do anything to help him. He's my best friend, but we're friends and I just won't ever feel about him the way I feel about you."

"You need to make that clear to him, even if it hurts," Davis said, standing up and watching as she did.

Chloe eased closer to him until he could feel her breath on his neck. "I know. I know I do, but Davis?"

"What?"

Before he knew it, she was leaning up and kissing him. At first he wanted to fight it, he did, but her lips were so soft and she was reaching up with such urgency. It flet better than other kisses had, than Jenna, than the myriad of cheerleaders he'd dated. This was amazing. It was something he'd been waiting for all his dating life.

They clicked.

And his brother was in love with her.

Pulling back, Davis pushed her away as gently as he could. She moaned her protest.

"Chloe, I _can't_."

"But there's definitely an attraction there. Maybe after I explain things to Clark, maybe when I'm a little older and you've had your fill of sorority girls. I'll wait, Davis. You're worth it."

He sighed and kissed her cheek. "Clark would kill me. We can't ever, Chloe. Not ever."

With that he left.

It was two days before the Spring Formal and Davis hadn't ever seen his brother this excited. Chloe must not have had the heart yet to explain what "just friends" meant to her and to his chances to ever truly date her. Davis would have to call her tonight and remind her to let Clark down gently. It wasn't good for him to hope and it probably was worse for The Beast.

No, surprising or upsetting Clark would be horrible.

"Davis! Davis! What do you think?" his brother asked, apparating right in front of him. He was dressed in a very traditional tux, cumberbund and all, and a red bowtie. "Isn't it nice?"

Davis, who'd opted for something with a vest and a modern long tie nodded. "You went old school. I like it."

"Well old school Armani. Grandfather calls it an investment."

Davis laughed. He assumed that meant Grandfather would now be dragging Clark carefully to select social events in his new finery, already seeking out to make connections for when it came Clark's turn to supposedly join a law firm. "It definitely is. So what color is Chloe's dress."

"Huh?"

"The dress, the one she's wearing, what color is it?"

"I didn't ask her. Why?"

Davis laughed and patted his brother on the shoulder. "Because you're supposed to match. Jenna's wearing emerald green. I asked her before I bought my tux."

Clark's eyes widened. "Oh I totally forgot. Oh man what if she clashes!"

"Well, if she steers clear of pink you might just make it. Clark, it's just customary to ask."

"It's my first dance. I just forgot," he muttered. "Oh! I have something though." And he disappeared and reappeared in front of Davis and, a bit nervously, he noted how imposssibly fast his brother was even compare to last May.

"Making me dizzy, squirt."

Clark laughed and pulled out a box from behind his back. Inside was a beautiful arrangement of white roses, carnations, and baby's breath. "Her corsage. Isn't it amazing? Mom helped me pick it out."

"Naturally," Davis replied, taking it in, still noticing how hyper his brother was acting. "What?"

"I dunno. I just am really like...I can't explain it," he finished, looking down and blushing.

Before Davis could dig further, his brother blurred and was then standing before him in his street clothes. "Definitely making me dizzy."

Clark sighed and sat at Davis's desk. "I think it's one of those weird things again."

Weird in this house now meant _alien_.

"What do you mean?" he asked, frowning.

"I dunno. I just really, really need to give her this, the corsage I mean. I'd like it to be a real bracelet and I don't even know why, but I'm looking about a million times more to slipping on the corsage than I am to even the dance. That's a freak thing again isn't it?"

Davis patted his brother's shoulder. "One day I'm sure we'll figure out what everything means. I promise."

"Yeah but until then we don't even have a name for what we are and I have all these thoughts that clearly you're not even having," he huffed. "Davis, I just-"

"'Want to be normal,'" Davis finished. "Same refrain, different day. Clark, it's never gonna happen. Just enjoy what you got and if putting on Chloe's corsage is going to make you happy then just roll with it. I'm sure she'll love what you got her; it's very nice."

"But other guys-"

"Cant run from here to L.A. in under ten minutes or lift Mercedes. It's a trade off. Just go with it."

"Easy for you to say," Clark added breezily. "Anyway, I got to go. Mom says we still have to buy things and plan. I'm just really excited. I think I can definitely get out of the friends' zone with that corsage and being all romantic. Gonna be great!"

"Clark-" Davis started, frustrated when his brother sped off too soon. "...about that friends' zone." Sighing to himself, Davis sat down in his chair and tried to ignore why, deep down, Clark offering a bracelet to Chloe bugged him.

_Chloe_

She was getting used to her father's impossible 10-12 hour day schedule. He was always gone by seven and if they were lucky, back by eight. Often Lionel kept him to late into the night because, as the old bastard reminded everyone, business never slept. Tonight, she was incredibly glad her father had left with Lionel on a business trip to Prague and wouldn't be home at all.

Not when the scritch scratch of incredibly long nails-talons, maybe?-awoke her at 3 am. Slipping on her bathrobe over her fuzzy bunny pjs, Chloe rushed down stairs and to her back kitchen door. Thankfully, she noted Dinah still sleeping in her bed. If what she thought was happening really was, then Dinah should have been dead.

Pulling back the curtain and steadying herself, Chloe peeked out the door, and her heart jumped when she did. The Beast's red eyes gleamed back at her. Except instead of growling like it had at first last time, it was sitting calmly on her stoop, like Dinah did when she wanted to be let in. The only major difference was the dead Scottie on the concrete before him and, Chloe noted, it reminded her of when Dinah brought her rats she'd caught out in the city.

Clark, as odd as it was to think of it, as disgusting, had brought her a present.

Chloe swallowed and did the incredibly stupid.

She opened the door, reasoning Clark would break in anyway if she didn't.

The Beast's mouth opened wide in what Chloe realized was its version of a grin, if one could call that much jagged teeth staring back at them a grin, and nudged the gift toward her.

"Clark?"

The Beast quirked his head at her. "Chloeeeeee."

"Well at least you know one word," she replied. "I...are you going to hurt me?"

"Chloeeeeeee."

"We're not even making progress," she sighed, eyed the box that Dinah had disappeared from, and made a command decision. No one could come across Clark as he was on her door step. "Come in."

"Chloeeeee," he said, not moving forward but instead taking one massive spiked arm and pushing the offering toward her. Chloe's stomach roiled.

"No, I...Clark, I can't. Dad won't like it. Can you try flowers next time? I mean meat's nice but maybe at least some steak?"

Clark blinked large red eyes back at her. "Chloeeeee?"

"Yes, we're going to have to train you in other words," she concluded. "Come on, Clark," she said pulling on his shoulder until he stepped over the threshold. "You have to come on in."

After she slammed the door behind her, she led Clark to the living room and let him to the living room, where he prefered to crouch on the floor, looking up at her like the world's most unconventional dog. She wasn't sure whether to be flattered or scared. As much as she liked Clark, there was no guarantee that The Beast wouldn't lunge for her throat if she did the wrong thing. So far it was enamored with "Chloeeee" but that could change in an instant.

"So, uh, thank you for coming?"

"Chloeeeee!"

She shook her head. "Okay, let's try starting with English. You know my name. Can you say 'Clark?'" she asked, pointing at the broad expanse of his chest.

The Beast quirked his head at her in a raptor like motion. Bringing one large scaly hand to cover hers over his chest, he rumbled. "Kal-Elllll."

She frowned. "No, Clark."

The Beast shook his head and said something she couldn't follow in what she assumed was not nonsense but Clark's real language and then pointed to himself again and said, "Kal-Elllll."

"Huh, okay 'Kal-El,' nice to get that out of the way. How about 'sleepy' now?"

Chloe woke at 5:30 as the sun was rising. Clark or The Beast, depending on how one looked at it was still sacked out at her feet like a tired puppy. You know, the type of puppy that had steggosaurus spikes and rock hard skin.

Leaning down, she stroked his head carefully, avoiding the horns adorning it. "You are without a doubt the strangest friend I've ever had. I don't want to sound selfish but I hope you change back before the dance. I don't think St. Stephens and St. Agnes is ready for you and I have a feeling your tux isn't gonna fit anymore. Although, daddy's out of town, you could move the couches and I could get the CD player fired up for Remy Zero."

Clark yawned and blinked large red eyes up at her. "Chloeeee!"

"Yes, Chloe," she replied. Clark was not a supergenius this way to say the least.

"Sleeeeep."

"Yes we slept. Maybe I need to work on teaching you not to elongate all your words. This is gonna get old fast. Anyway, uh, I have some bacon. It's not a lot but maybe that'll fix your meat jones?"

Clark looked to the lightening sky and shook his large head. "Go now."

"Me?"

He pointed to himself. "Go," he supplied, disappearing in a blur before she could protest.

She wondered if Clark could feel himself changing and didn't want to shift in front of her or if he was coming back to himself and was partially embarrassed. She just wasn't sure. Shaking her head, Chloe went to the kitchen and grabbed several huge leaf bags.

She had a body to dispose of.

"Clark, hey!" she said, smiling a little to see his human counterpart coming into _The Monitor's_office. "Have a long night?"

He blinked. "No I slept actually really deeply. I've been so jazzed about prom that it's really taking the the energy out of me. Oh...I mean Spring Formal but you know cause it's the last dance for the seniors and all, I just...I mean. You know, forget I put more pressure on it. Just a dance, right?"

Chloe smiled more broadly. It amazed her how talkative Clark was and how he tended to rant nervously, when The Beast was still mastering it's name, although it seemed to have no trouble saying her name with a variety of intonations.

"You're sure? Do you remember anything last night?"

Clark sat down hard at his desk. "I changed again, didn't I?"

Chloe patted his hand. "You came to my house if it makes you feel better."

"Did I eat Dinah?"

"No, actually I don't think you ate anything."

He got a little more color back into his cheeks. "Great."

"Although you, uh, did offer me a dead Scottie the way Dinah offers me rats. I think you brought me a present?"

"You think?"

"Well I'm sorry. I've not dealt with The Beast half that much. Clark, it's okay. I got rid of it. I think it was a stray. It didn't even have tags."

Clark sighed and put his head in his hands. "It doesn't make it right that the dog was a stray. I still killed again."

"I know, but you didn't hurt a person. You were very gentle."

"You let me in? God, Chlo, I don't even remember last night and you let a space monster into your house?"

"Okay it sounded bad, but daddy was out of town and it was better than leaving you on the door step, besides you didn't do much but crash on my living room floor. I mean, after I taught you a few words."

"Huh?"

"Beast You doesn't speak much, but it really likes to say 'Chlooeeeee.'"

"You sound like Cookie Monster when you do that."

She rolled her eyes. "It's how you say it! 'Chloeeeeee.' It drives me nuts so I just decided to teach you other stuff. We learned sofa, sleep, and Kal-El. You're a work in progress."

Clark frowned. "So you spent last night teaching a space monster how to speak English and then letting it sleep in your house?"

"Ahem, you are not a space monster. You happen to be a traveler from few solar systems or whatever over. Big difference."

"Okay, I'm trying to wrap my brain around you hanging out with The Beast and not just being scared shitless. I mean it's _me_and even I'm scared of him."

"You've never seen you."

"I got descriptions enough for a lifetime. I just...you are the weirdest girl I know, Chloe."

She shrugged. "It was different. I mean not exactly how I saw my night going. But do you know what 'Kal-El' is?"

"A sound?" Although he frowned and closed his eyes and was quiet for several long minutes. "Although, it sounds awfully familiar. It's a name, isn't it?"

She smiled back at him and patted a very human hand. "I think it's your name, from before."

"Oh. I...it's pretty."

"I think so. So are you ready, buddy, for the dance. I have the nicest pink silk dress."

Clark's eyes widened. "It's pink?"

"Yeah?"

"Shit, I bought a red tux and you're still talking about buddies!"

"I know," she replied, squeezing his hand. "You know this is a friend-friend thing, Clark. I can't give you more than that. We're best friends and I'll hang out with you or the spikey version just as easily but I don't want to date."

Clark sighed and took a shuddering breath. "Is there someone else?"

"No, I just. You're like my brother."

He stiffened. "Your friend-brother?"

"I care about you and I'm excited about it, I just want to make sure you get what 'friends' means here."

Clark stood up and walked over to the door. "Yeah, it means you'll teach the space monster new words but you won't try dating him."

Chloe was left blinking when he vanished.

_Clark_

Despite the insistence they were friends and his own realization there was no way for him to ever get out of that space, no matter how much he loved Chloe, Clark wanted to go with her. There was a chance he could wear her down over the years with the Clark Kent charm. She might be adamant now or in a year from now, but maybe when they were both seniors, her feelings would change. He could wait and, anyway, he couldn't change how he felt.

He simply couldn't.

It was why he was more than happy to be at the Spring Formal asking the band to cue up "Perfect Memory" for him. When the song started, Chloe squealed a little on the floor and smiled up at him.

"You did that."

"Yup."

"I gotta admit," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders. "The limo, the tux, my favorite song. You go all out Mr. Kent."

"I'm sorry that I forgot the corsage. I just totally spaced," he lied. Something deep inside him telling that something to slip over her wrist wouldn't be right until she loved him in return. It had led to a lame like about him forgetting it.

Chloe smiled. "It was fine. I'm having a great time."

"A romantic one?"

She sighed and squeezed his shoulders. "A friendly time."

"Well I have time, you know. You might come aroud some day."

She smiled but it wasn't genuine. He knew that look from her well. Pity. "Clark, I can't promise you anything. I think we need to enjoy this for what it is, okay?"

"I know. I'm only letting you know I'm really patient. It comes from years of wearing mom and grandfather down about the whole school thing. I just want you to understand that I'm here and I'm waiting."

"Okay. I'll remember, but-"

"No promises. I get it," he said, closing his eyes and swaying to the music. He could feel her, warm and soft against his body. He could feel himself blushing and hoping Chloe wasn't standing too close to him. Oddly, his eyes began to itch, then burn.

Literally burn.

It suddenly felt like the surface of the sun in the gym.

Chloe was yanking on his arm and he let her lead him. There was no way he could open his eyes now. He knew something horrible would happen if they did, but they burned so terribly and it hurt to hold whatever was happening to him back.

"Chlo, I have to get out of here!" he hissed, and suddenly much stronger arms were aroud him and he was relieved that Davis was leading him past the chaperone corner-a hasty excuse about bad sushi at the place they'd been to earlier made them part-and to the hall.

Clark slumped down against the wall and slid to the floor, clamping his eyes shut but knowing it was a matter of time before he couldn't keep his lids from coming open. "It hurts."

Davis's hands were on his shoulders and behind him, he could hear Chloe pacing nervously, her heels clacking on the oak floor. "Clark, what's going on. You're sweating. I've never seen you do that."

"I...it's so warm in here."

"No it's not, they have the air conditioning on max for all the kids inside the gym. Clark, you have to tell me what you're feeling."

Davis. Davis was good. He always helped. Clark was always the brother fucking up and Davis was always helping him. "They burn. My eyes burn like when a human gets jalapenos in their eyes. I mean they itch too. I feel like I'm gonna explode."

"Can you keep them shut til we get you to the penthouse?"

"I dunno. I'm burning up!"

Chloe reached down and touched his forehead. "God you feel like a million degrees. Your hair's even plastered to your forehead."

Her stroking his bangs was the last thing he needed, it was like a nuclear explosion had gone off inside. His eyes slammed open then and everything was a red haze. Dear Christ was he changing? _Here_.

But that wasn't right becaue he could feel the heat, the fire, pulsing through him and directly onto Davis. A stream of fire from his eyes, heat so intense it had set the fabric of Davis's tux on fire and the flames were rising.

Clark was screaming and Chloe was too. Davis had jumped to the side hall by now and rolling on the ground, suffocating the flames but Clark knew, as the fire finally died out, that the amount of damage he'd done would leave 3rd degree burns up Davis's left arm.

His throwing arm.

He just ruined his brother's football career before it had ever really started.

"Oh God. Davis!"

Once his vision was normal, Clark ran to his brother, ignoring the torrent of water soaking him from the sprinklers. Reaching down to Davis, Clark tried to examine the damage to his arm.

Tried to because, though the fabric had been scorched to cinders, his brother's arm was normal, not a burn at all.

Chloe was kneeling by Davis's right side. "I don't understand. You don't have abilities."

Davis was wide eyed at his lack of wound. "I didn't. I mean back even in November, I sprained my wrist heading into the play offs. I didn't even realize."

"Davis, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. God, I really didn't. You have to believe me. I'd burn myself first. Christ."

"Shh, squirt, not here. Don't panic. We just need to get everyone back to the penthouse and-"

"Davis Kent what the Hell is going on here!" Principal Reynolds yelled. "How the Hell did the sprinklers go off and what is all this smoke and what happened to the walls."

"I..." Clark started until Chloe placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. He was a shit liar. He had to let his brother handle it.

"Sorry, sir, we came out here to, well, smoke some weed frankly and the fire got out of control. I guess that's what happens when you buy mystery street trash."

Clark's eyes were wide. He wanted to protest he could have come up with a better lie than that, but really he had nothing.

Reynolds frowned, not believing the student body president and all around nice guy Davis had done such a thing, but, there were little other reasons for fire when no blow torches were around, well, except Clark.

"Excuse me?"

"Grass? Mary Jane? A roach? We were getting high. It's my fault. I was trying to get Chloe and Clark to try it for the first time and they both refused."

"You know our drug policy. I'll be sending the three of you home immediately and you, Davis...we can't stop you from graduating but we can keep you out of the ceremony. Pity, I'd have liked to hear your address to the senior class. Now go home before I expel Clark and Chloe too. As it is _The Monitor_is closed for the final three weeks of school for the underclassmen."

Chloe feigned protesting, playing into Reynold's control issues, but eventually "acquiesced" for him.

Clark didn't care. As long as no one had figured out he was a fucking fire shooting freak, he didn't care. Hurrying into the limo, he turned to laugh at his brother and his date. It was a harsh sound he didn't like.

"What Clark?" And Chloe was on Mach 1 full pity.

He hated himself right then.

"I'm not a monster, shhh. I'm a dragon."

_Davis_

"I got him to sleep, mom. I got him his red blanket and got him to rest. I must have told him a million lies to get him to conk out because I have no clue what we're going to do now. He clearly didn't do it on purpose because he had no idea how to control it."

His mother nodded and sipped her coffee, eying Chloe in the corner of the Great Hall as she did so. His grandfather was in China on business and Davis noted that his grandfather was gone almost as often as Chloe's dad. It was another thing they had in common. "He'd never hurt either of you. I know he wouldn't. We'll figure out how to contain this."

"Like with The Beast?" Davis asked. "I'm really scared. What he did was incredibly painful if whatever the Hell just happened to me hadn't decided to kick in, my arm would be charred beyond all recognition. Not burned, _charred_.

Chloe sighed. "How does that work exactly? Are you healing?"

"I was never burned. I could feel the heat and it hurt in a far away sense, but it didn't burn me. I have no clue. I haven't been invulnerable before. That is more Clark's deal."

His mother nodded and took another sip. "It could be that your powers just develop differently or that you have different abilities. Clark got his strength first, after all. It could be you were just delayed for all these years. We really have no clue but from now on you'll have to be twice as careful, just like Clark is. If you decide to keep playing football-"

"Which I want to do."

"If you do, you can't let anyone notice that you don't bruise or get cuts like a normal person would."

Davis considered that. Though he'd spent the last twelve years promising Clark there was nothing wrong with being gifted, he wasn't so sure anymore. It was easier to say that when you weren't the abnormality in question. Although, in the weird Olympics, being invulnerable was so much better than what plagued his brother.

"I know, mom. I know how to be careful. I just don't understand how we can contain this. This could kill people without Clark even knowing how or why. He couldn't stop it. It just drained out on him."

Chloe nodded. "I've rarely been more scared in my life...not of Clark but _for_Davis. I thought he was dead. If his power hadn't come online he would be."

"The solution presented itself. We'll tell Principal Reynolds that Clark will take his final exams at home at our request and that for the next three weeks Clark will stay home and figure out his triggers and how to control the ability. He learned to temper the strength, speed, and hearing. He can learn how to do this as well. In exchange, father will just have to pay for the repairs as well as donate a new something or other."

"Money is nice," Chloe said, whistling.

"It's the only way to protect them. Anything odd shows up and we payoff the right people. I honestly don't know how I'd have kept the boys' secret on a farm that wasn't even solvent."

Chloe held up her hands in a placating gesture. "No, I know. It's fortunate you have these resources because otherwise everyone involved would be screwed."

"We might still be, if we can't find the trigger and the off switch."

"Then," Chloe said, hopping up. "I have to get going. Daddy will be home at 3 pm tomorrow and I have to get him from the airport. Tell Clark I'll be by Sunday if he's feeling better or even if he's not. Really, he doesn't have to be embarrassed. I'm just worried for him."

Davis sighed. Chloe was a good person; she was just definitely in over her head. "Alright. Do you want me to walk you to the door?"

She shook her head and smiled coyly at him. "I think I can find my way out of this labyrinth. Ms. Clark, pleasure as always."

"Chloe," his mother said stiffly, waiting for the other girl to exit. She said nothing until the door clicked shut behind Chloe. "Davis, what's going on?"

"Huh?"

"The smile, the way she stares at you. She has a crush on you."

He swallowed, desperate not to let his mother know the attraction was mutual. "Mom, not to sound immodest but so do half the girls in school. It goes with being class president and the winning quarterback. She's just a freshman; she'll get over some puppy love feelings."

"See that she does. It'll kill Clark if she persists with it, as I figured. Also, it'll crush him if you ever reciprocated."

"I'd never!" he protested, even though he most certainly had. "I need to see Clark. We can figure this out."

_Clark_

Clark's dream was fitful, littered with a blackened sky choked with soot. He could see the surrealistic landscape before him. Tall crystalline spires reached to a sky in perpetual sunset, destruction and chaos filled every corner and the earth shook and crystals crashed beside him. Clark coughed on the smoke choking him, sputtered and struggled to breath until he was placed in the dark. He thought he was alone, he felt alone, traveling forever in the darkness, but then he was awake in the yellow sun and strong. His mother and Davis with him.

They made him safe.

He was safe.

He was Clark.

He was The Beast. Destruction incarnate.

Clark whipped up his head and screamed.

Strong arms were holding him down. "Clark! Clark! It's Davis. It's okay. It's just me."

He sat up and shivered. "I killed you."

Davis sighed and lifted up his shirt sleeve. "Guess someone got to join your invulnerability club."

"Thank god."

"Squirt?" Davis asked, his head quirked in confusion.

"Yeah?"

"What's 'ime pare Rao?'"

"Huh?"

"You said that when you woke up. Do you know what it means?"

He shook his head and set his chin on his knees. "I don't know. I don't remember whatever I spoke before, I think that The Beast does, at least some of it?"

"I don't understand."

"I, uh, well _it_went wandering two days ago to Chloe's. You know she's okay. Apparently The Beast half's smitten too. I stayed the night on the floor and she tried to teach it...me words."

Davis considered him. "You're serious?"

"Yeah, apparently I'm a slow learner but she tried to get me to say my name, to say 'Clark,' but I kept saying 'Kal-El' instead. I think that might be my name from before."

"You used to babble that a lot. I'd not be surprised. I just never realized it was a name. Clark?"

He sighed and sat back against his bedroom wall, his red blanket clutched tightly. "What?"

"Don't tell mom. It'll hurt her feelings."

"Definitely. So how is she taking my newest freak power?"

"Maybe better than mine. She has a plan for how to help you hone this and find the off switch; she's more concerned about me getting caught playing for Met U now that I can't be injured. I might not play anyway."

"You love football!"

"Yeah, but I love not being vivisected more. Besides, I've been thinking of going pre-med and there's no way I can do both. I'm smart but I'm not a math genius like you. If I really want to get into a good med school, academics have to be my focus and it's not like we don't have the money. It's a state school even, you know?"

Clark frowned. "You're talking yourself into this cause you've seen how well I've hidden myself all this time."

"No, not exactly. I really do want to go into medicine. Law's never ever interested me but I want to help people. We can't all lift cars or stop diving accidents, but I want to help."

Clark snickered. "Chloe said that when I saved her. That I was her hero. Some hero I turned out to be. I burned the shit out of you or would have. I'm sorry."

Davis pointed to his arm, "No harm, no foul. Look just tell me what the last thing you were thinking about while dancing with Chloe was and we'll go from there. That has to be the trigger. You've never danced with a girl before."

Clark blushed. He was glad it wasn't his mom or grandfather asking him. "Well, I just, yanno, and then she was soft and warm and I was, yanno, and I might have thought about maybe seeing her naked cause, yanno-"

"You're a teenage guy?"

"Uh, don't tell mom, please, or, oh god, Chloe. She'll think I'm a perverted my pet monster!"

"I think you're a lot more human than you think, Clark, and I think I've figured out your trigger. We're just gonna have to work on you concentrating on baseball..."

_Chloe_

She came by the penthouse when she knew Clark would be back at class, after an intense weekend of training which Davis and Clark would not explain the hows of, Clark was back at school. Davis was already done his exams and APs anyway. Chloe had her suspicions of what had triggered him and why he was too embarrassed to tell her. She was a reporter, not an idiot, and it was oddly flattering that she could make him go Chernobyl like that and a little scary. She was really beginning to get how in love with her he was, _both sides of him_.

She was also glad she'd timed her visit when both Clarks, esquire, were at the law office. It was just her and Davis.

"Hey!" she said, holding out a basket. "I brought muffins from _Starbucks_. I didn't bake them, I promise."

He smiled and took the proferred gift. "Chloe, thanks."

"There's nothing like banana blueberry to say 'Congrats on getting superpowers!'"

"I'll hold you to that if you ever develop something."

She snorted. "With all the weirdness in Lowell County, you really can't tell."

"You're doing that thing again."

"What thing?"

"The patented Chloe Look of Pity 101."

She sighed and sat down at the kitchen island. "I'm sorry. I just worry about both of you. I don't mean to come off as cloying or something."

"No, you don't. I guess I just have a new level of appreciation for Clark and for why he likes you."

"Deeper into the secrets club?"

"Sort of. I mean it's one thing to have the ship in storage and be nervous about it. It's a whole other thing to have an ability. I mean it's not a particularly scary one, but I'd not want to advertise it either."

"Well I'm sure one day, you'll have a good friend who'll get it. I don't think I'm the only open minded gal out there."

Davis sighed and placed his hand over hers. "I hate this."

"Your ability?"

"No. I get why Clark likes you because so do I and not in a 'little sister' way, but I can't crush him, Chloe, I can't."

"I know, me neither."

"I think it's best if I go off to Met U and we try not to visit each other. I mean if you email me to keep me up on Clark and if we do group things, fine, but I can't be alone with you and not want you."

She nodded. "Me neither." God damn it. Why couldn't she have fallen for the right brother? Smiling brightly, forcing herself to stay happy, she held out a muffin to him. "Well, I'll eat to that."


	12. Chapter 12

In which there is a bracelet found...

_Chloe_

"Davis, you have no idea. I don't know why the school thought they could save money on class rings made of red meteor rock. My editorial was scatching believe me. Ugh, I slipped the thing off Clark's finger the second he tried goosing me. I mean, he was pretty ugly to your mom and grandfather...no I know I should have called...no I had it handled. He got surly and horny, he didn't hurt anyone. No we have it under lock and key with the ship. Well now we know something really interesting about you two and meteor rocks alright? I can't call you for every emergency!" Chloe rolled her eyes. She'd called Davis to keep him filled in on Clark's life, not to get a lecture.

"The point is Chloe," He said on the line, irritation clear in his voice. "Clark was on a mind-altering substance and it could have triggered a shift and stripped The Beast of any inhibitions it does have. Look, it would have been the right thing to call me. I'm in the city!"

Chloe sighed. "Davis, you have to give your family a little space."

"He was drugged!"

"Your mom asked me not to call, that we'd handle it."

"I needed to know!"

"And be around that rock too? So we had a double team of douche? No way!"

"So this is about endangering me too? You shouldn't have to worry about me, alright? He matters the most. The next time something comes up, I don't give a fuck what mom wants. Call me and I'll back to the penthouse in no time. Alright?"

"Fine but you can't put your entire life on hold because of Clark."

"I'm not, but Chloe we made a pact. You have to help me take care of him. It's what matters, not my life."

She sighed again. "You don't have to sacrfice every time. We _can_handle situations. He was high for about twelve hours, ring gone, and now we know red meteor rock is dangerous okay?"

"You should call, every time, you need to call. Promise me next time, no matter if you think it's not a big deal. We need to be honest with each other."

"Alright, but you have to have a life outside of protecting his secret and yours. Meet a girl, have a date, do something fun at a frat."

"I could have dates!"

Chloe hoped that wasn't true. "Do you?"

"Not yet. It's hard adjusting in college, especially when you're not who you thought you'd be."

"I know keeping a low profile and not being the football hero isn't what you are used to-"

"Well I meant more that I'm not Clark and physics is an ass kicker. I might be home more on the weekends just so he can tutor me. I need better grades for med school and the MCATs."

"You just got there."

"And I want to help people, Chloe. I'm just buried-in-his-books-guy. I don't have time for girls. Besides you know that..." he trailed off and was silent for a long time, obviously hesitant to continue.

Chloe's heart sped up in a good way. "I know, me too."

"You and Clark should-"

"We're friends. I know he's in love with me. He does so many sweet things every day. He really is a gentleman."

"I know."

"I tell him just as much that I'm not ready, might never be, but the truth is-"

"Don't even say it."

She sighed and lay back in her bed. "Good, just so you know."

Davis's voice was quiet when he answered. "I'll always know. Me too, Chloe, me too."

_Clark_

"Dinah, I am a moron!" Chloe's cat looked up at him, sneezed and then went back to eating her tuna. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. That's not reassuring."

"Clark?" Chloe called and she was at least in her uniform for school already. "It's seven a.m."

"So only the bony spiked Clark can come around before nine a.m.," he riposted, regretting it immediately when that stupid look of pity came across her face. "Your dad let me in before he dashed out. I thought we might need to talk. I was a total ass yesterday."

"Clark it wasn't you. I mean we all know you were high as a kite."

He looked down at the table and started picking at the table cloth. "It was me."

"Huh?"

"The Beast, me on the red rocks, me here. They're always all just me."

"I doubt you really want to eat cats, Clark."

"But The Beast likes you, is good to you. That's like me."

"Okay but red rock you is a complete jerk."

"No, I think those things, deep down. I do feel like mom and grandfather are crushing me. I do want to do more than hide in a penthouse and be afraid people will find me. I do want you, but not like that. I'm so sorry. I sexually harassed you. I wouldn't...even high I'd never force you."

She smiled and patted his hand. "I know you wouldn't."

"But I can't help how I feel. Davis says it's like The Beast imprinted on you somehow. I don't know. I just know that I want to be with you."

"Clark, you bring this up once a week and once a week I try and be as nice about this as possible. I love you but like a brother or a best friend and you know I don't think that's ever gonna change."

It was suddenly impossible to swallow. His voice wavered as he spoke and he concentrated so hard on the table he felt like he might set it on fire. "I know, Chlo. I'm just incredibly sorry I grabbed you like I did, that I tried to-"

"Touch my ass?"

"Well, yeah," he replied blushing.

"And that's when I got the ring off you. Clark, even if those are your feelings. You don't act on them normally. You don't sneer at your grandfather or rag on your mom but maybe you need to let those feelings out some time. You need to explain why you're frustrated. If it festers, then it's not good for anyone. It could-"

"Drive The Beast, I know. I just never wanted my mom to hear how I feel. I love her so much. I love her more than anyone in the world, I mean a different way than I care about you, duh, but I love her. She took me in and she saves me every day. I explained that to her this morning. We hugged, she cried a little, and we did come to some agreements, but I just never ever wanted to make her feel like I'm not grateful because I am."

Chloe squeezed his hand. "Look at me."

"I'm too embarrassed."

"No just do it," she said, placing her hand under his chin. "Clark, the four of us care about you more than you know. We'd protect you and be there for you no matter what. Your mom most of all. Hell, my dad and I fight sometimes and we make up. She'll feel better. She clings so hard. This wasn't the way to do it, to let her know your frustrations, but it's good for her to know them, to loosen the reins."

"Is it good for you to know how much I lust after you," he said bitterly.

"I know you have a crush. I know how fond The Beast is of me, even though we haven't seen him around for a while," she finished, her tone hopeful.

"Don't kid yourself. It'll be back. I am not stupid enough to think that part of me is gone, okay?"

"I know...I just meant-"

"I know and all parts of me love you, care about you, I'm just so ashamed."

A gentle hand on his cheek and his eyes itched a little, testing the control he practiced every day. "Don't be. We understand, alright? We understand and we accept it as part of the Clark Kent package. You can't help that the ring let things out like a flood. You didn't know."

"No, I didn't."

"Which means you're going to have to be extra careful around the rocks in Lowell County. There's green too. Those are the ones I think cause the mutations, you know?"

"You think they'd make me shift or change?"

"I don't know what they'd do. Red meteor rock doesn't affect humans at all. Your mom, grandfather and I all tried the ring on for at least an hour a piece and none of us felt a bit different. The rocks probably affect you in ways we can't even imagine. You'll just need to be careful in Smallville."

"Oh Chlo, I can't possibly go back there!"

"You might not have a choice, we're having a field trip to some newly discovered Indian caves. They gave us our slips yesterday when you were out in the city. They're in Smallville."

"Maybe I shouldn't-"

"You have to wear the red meteor rock to make it work. It might be the same with the green kind or you might not run into any at all, okay? You wanted more freedom. I think this is a great way to test it."

"Will you be there with me?"

"Of course."

He came home that night and ate dinner quietly with his mother and grandfather. They filled the strained silence with discussion about the latest lawsuit they were working on. Clark didn't bother following it. He ate quickly, but not inhumanly so, and when he was done, asked to leave.

His mom followed him to his room

"Mom, I'm fine, really."

"Sweetheart, we talked about this. You don't have to be upset."

"I'm feeling so awkward."

His mom smiled and led him to sitting on the bed. "It's alright. I do hold you too tightly, but I want to give you a chance to be out there."

"Huh?"

She handed him a slip of paper. "Chloe told me about the field trip."

"You two gang up on me!"

"Not exactly, but I'd never have let you go back there 48 hours ago because of my experience there, but now I want you to go. I think it'd be best for you, just to try leaving the city for a bit. Baby steps. You can do this."

"I've never really had a field trip before," he said, unable to keep the excitement from creeping into his voice.

"Then you should," she clarified. "You most definitely should."

The girl was looking at him strangely. What was her name? Kara? Kyla wasn't it?

Clark gulped. Everyone had moved on away from the paintings and was already heading out. Their tour guide, a student at Granville High, was lingering. He'd come back to ask her a question and one of the rocks had come loose and almost fallen on her. He'd slipped into superspeed and let them bounce off him instead.

He really needed to stop saving girls if he wanted to save his secret.

"Oh my god," she said and as she did, she got to her knees and bowed her head. "I never thought I'd meet you."

"Uh, I'm Clark? You don't have to kneel!"

She stood up then. "I'm sorry...I just, the Naman! I never believed he'd be back in my lifetime."

"I am confused. What are we talking about."

Kyla's eyes went wide. "Right, we're not showing that part of the exacavations yet. Come with me."

He followed her, unsure of how long it would take Chloe to notice he was gone, or if he was about to make national headlines for _The Inqiusitor_. "I..."

The girl quirked her head at him. "Naman, I promise, you have nothing to fear from me. My people have guarded your ancestor's story for five hundred years. I'd never tell anyone."

"That doesnt' necessarily instill me with confidence. I can totally explain what just happened. You see there was adrenaline," he started, following her. "And whoa!"

The chamber in the caves that was cordoned off was amazing. Adorned with a triptych of ornate paintings and a collection of etchings on the far wall, etchings that had an eerily resmeblance to those on the key his mother had showed him last year. Aliens like him and Davis had been here.

He could feel it.

"Are you like me?"

She shook her head and walked over to the wall, explaining to him about the original Naman, Segeeth and the True One. When she was done, she pointed to the bracelet on her arm. "We protect the secret. We're descendants, yes, but by now all that means is that we're healthier and live into our hundreds easily. We cannot do what you can, Naman."

"Uh, just Clark."

"Okay," she said, smiling coyly. "'Just Clark,' we sometimes have one other gift."

"Gift?"

Kyla nodded and closed her eyes, thick white fur spread across her body and she began to shrink. Within little time, he could tell the shape she was assuming. It was a-

"Holy crap, a werewolf!" Chloe shouted, rushing into the chamber. "She's a werewolf."

"Chlo, what are you doing here?" he asked, staring at the bracelet that had fallen off of Kyla's wrist. The wolf was quickly working her way out of her pile of clothes.

"Apparently seeing something smoking cool," she stopped and narrowed her eyes at him. "Why is our tour guide telling you she's a werewolf? And why is there a huge freaking boulder shattered in half in the main cavern."

"Rocks fell, I dove, saved her life. She's showing me her ability in return."

"Clark!"

"Ahem, you're hardly one to criticize. You'd be in a back brace and she'd be dead. Let's all be glad Clark has superpowers, okay?"

She sighed. He could tell his point had resonated with her. "Is she going to eat us?"

He reeled back a bit. "I don't know. Do I eat people?"

"Oh Clark...I didn't..."

"She's like me. Apparently whatever the Hell I am visited here before and the Kawatchee are descendants," he said, pointing to where the wolf was sitting patiently, wagging her tail. "She isn't strong or fast, but she shifts too."

"Well it is a little different," Chloe defended.

"Yeah less spikes and space monster but she's like me, Chlo."

And suddenly, he could feel another crush blossoming. Someone was finally even a little like him.

_Davis_

"Squirt, we need to talk."

Clark glared at him. "I have a date tonight. You know, like normal people have. You should try one."

"Mom called and Chloe. They explained that you've been seeing Kyla Willowbrook for two weeks straight."

"So?"

"She's not like us."

"She's exactly like me. She's related to whatever the fuck we are, even if it's five hundred years apart! She can shift. She knows what it's like."

"She isn't The Beast," Davis clarified, sitting down at the island in the kitchen. "She's not you."

"But she knows what it's like to have something else inside her, to feel afraid that the other half will do something. She can control her wolf now. Maybe I can learn how to too. Davis, I think she's the one."

"Clark, you're sixteen. You don't have to get married!"

"I know but I feel this pull to Chloe and sometimes I still do, but maybe it was always supposed to be Kyla. She and I have so many things in common that even you can't understand because you can't shift!"

"Squirt, there's been a rash of injuries and one murder at the LuthorCorp construction site near the caves. The last one they found clumps of white fur and the victim-and he'd been killed by the way-was mauled by something large. There aren't supposed to be wolves in Smallville anymore. They're calling it a coyote."

"What are you implying?"

"I'm not implying. I'm flat out saying it. White fur, vested interest in protecting the caves, wolf. Kyla started by scaring the workers, then mauling, and now she's _killing_them."

"No, she wouldn't-"

"You don't know her and you know yourself. The Beast kills. You kill small prey but who's to say that the way Kyla controls her wolf is by feeding is humans?"

"I can't believe you throw that in may face. I can't help what that part of me does, that I have to hunt. Kyla isn't a murderer."

"Clark, you can't keep dating her just because she can shift. She's not a good person."

"Maybe I'm not either!" his brother replied, blurring off into the night.

It was then that Davis felt it, that anger and ire rising in him. Kyla was bad for Clark. Kyla couldn't stay. The hate was burning through him and he pushed it aside. Shaking his head, Davis regained his composure. He'd find a way around it, he'd think like a Clark and get her away from his brother, that's all he had to do.

So why did he dream of rolling in her blood?

_Chloe_

It was four a.m. when the call came.

Chloe sat bolt upright in bed and tried to calm her dad's protests about needing to be at work in an hour. Something was wrong. Her heart raced worse when her cell said the caller was Davis.

"Davis?"

"Chloe you have to get to Smallville as fast as you can. I'll have my mother call your dad and make excuses, don't worry about that."

"I don't understand."

"There's been an accident. Kyla's dead."

When she finally got to the reservation, the site sickened her. She didn't know how long teh tableau had been like it was but since it was a two hour commute from the city, she could begin to guess. Clark was sitting in the center of a crowd, keening, in his arms was what was left of a great white wolf.

There wasn't much left of her.

"Clark?" Chloe asked, rushing toward him, not giving a damn her car was still open and running. "My god, Clark."

"I did this. I did it!"

Chloe looked back to where Davis and his mother were standing helplessly in the crowd. They must have tried to reach him earlier. "Clark, you have to tell me what happened?"

"I don't know what happened. I...we were hanging out, just watching the stars here and she was teaching me about the constellations as the Kawatchee saw them. I blacked out. Then when I was awake again, I wandered into the woods to find her. I...she was in pieces." The keening started again and Chloe grabbed his chin.

"Clark stay with me."

"I did this!" he said, shifting what was left of Kyla and showing her the spike impaled in her heart. "I murdered, Chloe. I killed. I-"

She didn't understand the scene. Her reporter's mind asking the simple question about why Clark's clothes, while shredded to an extent, weren't completely gone. She'd seen The Beast. It was so much larger in frame than Clark. A shift should tear everything he'd been wearing to rags. Of course, running in hyper speed should burn his clothes off from the friction, so maybe she didn't know everything about him.

The Kawatchee were watching them and she figured it was mainly shock that their Naman-their savior-had murdered the granddaughter of their chief.

Chloe knew the feeling.

Technically, Kyla had been a wolf when The Beast had torn her apart, but this was the closest to murdering a human Clark had ever come. Even if Kyla was lashed to the wolf the way that Clark was lashed to that alien half of his nature, she'd been a girl too. She'd existed and now had been snuffed out."

Her heart quickened despite everything. She'd been a fool to think The Beast could care enough about her not to turn. She honestly didn't know what they were going to do. Clark might move on to bigger prey from here, for a taste of actual humans, and she just didn't know how to stop that anymore.

"We have to go get you cleaned up. Come on, there has to be some place to wash you off."

Chief Willowbrook had called her and her alone into his office.

"We're not pressing charges. There's nothing to show but what's left of a wolf. We can't reveal his secret without endangering our own. Not all of us can change, but many can, and we're not going to risk our skinwalkers being sent to Belle Reve."

"That's a good instinct," Chloe conceded. "I can't even begin to express my sorrow."

"You didn't like Kyla. I'm not a fool."

"I-"

"She wasn't stable. I know this. I know she was murdering the construction workers, had worked herself up to that."

"It doesn't make it better that Clark killed her."

"No, it does not, but I understand now why Clark was drawn to her, why he cared so deeply for her."

"I don't understand."

"They were kindred. He's not Naman, the savior. She was wrong; we were wrong."

"Then what is he?"

"He's Segeeth, the bringer of death."

"No, I don't believe that."

"He's unkillable, strong, a killer. He's half the balance in the immortal struggle between light and dark. If he's Segeeth and he and Davis are blood brothers, truly related, then there's only one thing left for Davis to be."

"The Naman," she supplied, recalling the story Clark said Kyla had told him.

The chief nodded and pulled out a small scarf from his pocket. Undoing the cloth, he pushed it toward her. She was awed by the beauty of the filagreed bracelet. "What?"

"This was something the true Naman brought with him from the stars. It is still intended for the Naman's true one, for the woman he's meant to be with. Give this to Davis. When it's time, he'll know who to give it to. It was never ours to keep."

"I...but what about the cave and the paintings. The way Naman and Segeeth are locked together in battle. Clark and Davis love each other! They're brothers."

"It doesn't matter. Clark is the ultimate destroyer. He'll get worse, Chloe, until Davis kills him to save the world. It's the way that story has always ended among our people. There's only one winner in a battle that absolute."

"Davis would never kill Clark, never."

"He'll have to or risk us all."

_Davis_

Clark was curled up in his bed, the red blanket held tightly to him. Snot dripped down his face and his eyes were bloodshot. He hadn't stopped crying in hours. Davis knew it meant more than just mourning over a girl he'd only known for two weeks.

Clark was mourning for himself, for the humanity they could all see was slipping away from him, for the dreams of a life he'd never have.

"You have to kill me."

"What?"

"I don't know how anyone can, but you have to figure out a way. I'm a killer, Davis. I'll get worse. I know I will. Kyla is a start."

Davis swallowed and reached out for his brother's hand. "I can't. There's no way to hurt you anyway, but you know I'd never hurt you. You know that."

"I loved her and I killed her. I thought loving someone as Clark Kent would be enough to protect them from The Beast, would be enough to save you or mom or grandfather or Chloe, but it's not. One day I'll kill humans and one day I'll kill you all. I can't live knowing that. Either you figure out how to kill me or-"

"Or what?"

"I'll do it myself."


	13. Chapter 13

_Chloe___

June.

June meant no _Monitor_to distract her. It meant her dad on a tour of Lionel's holdings in Europe for six weeks. It meant that this year she'd missed out on a DP internship because she'd been too mired in Clark's affairs. She didn't regret it, but it meant that she had nothing to do. It was then that, despite Ms. Clark's misgivings and glares, Clark had invited her to stay with them.

It wasn't really a kinky or inappropriate thing.

Their estate was big enough to have wings and a staff, for Christ's sakes. She was staying on the opposite end from the boys' bedroom, right next to their mother's room. It wasn't completely awkward, but she understood she was being watched closely. Chloe resented it a little. She'd been part of the family and working through all the issues of trying to help Clark and Davis for two years basically.

She wasn't looking to hurt anyone. She'd never turn on either boy and publish their secrets and, even though the way she felt about Davis had never abated, she'd never hurt Clark either. Chloe merely sat on her feelings and pushed them away, not hoping they'd go because she liked how Davis made her feel, but just out of her mind because everything was an impossible situation.

The first two weeks of her stay had gone well enough, even with the death glares one Martha Clark kept sending her way and the baiting she did during dinners. Davis or Clark would deflect, Chloe would take it in stride, and Ms. Clark would start over again the next night with the power plays with her.

Maybe Martha Clark was just scared of losing her boys in a different way to another woman.

Chloe sighed and leaned back against the chaise lounge by the pool. It was large, Olympic sized easily, and made a bit in the style of nature-fake rocks, lagoons, the like. Whoever had owned the house before the Clarks had had fantasies of being Hugh Hefner. She figured that Clark's grandfather and mother had never changed the pool if only because the faked grotto and everything else might have appealed to Clark when he was _less himself_, the same way the caverns or the large forest behind the house must have.

Or maybe Clark and Davis, being normal as far as their entertainment tastes, wanted to pretend they lived in the Playboy mansion. Men were men after all, no matter what planet they'd been born on.

"You know, Cecille can get you more soda," Clark said, eying where she'd been nursing a Sunkist.

Chloe pulled down her shades and smiled back at Clark. The sun was good for him; she knew it. Since the pool had been opened, he'd laid out every day, at least for several hours. He never burned, never even tanned, but he just sat in the warming rays, and would come back in wearing a broad smile.

Moving out here had been a good idea in some ways.

"Nope, just chillin' like a villain."

Clark smirked. "Me too. One more test to take in an hour or so and I am officially a junior."

"Which test?"

"European history. I reread the textbook yesterday. I'm ready to take it."

"It must be nice."

"Hmm?"

"To be able to memorize anything you've ever seen. School must never be hard."

"History and English are. Memorizing doesn't mean you have insights into essay writing. It's why I really like English. Math's a puzzle and that's fun but always too easy. English really makes me think. I mean, I memorized all the lines from 'The Raven' but it doesn't mean my analysis on my final was that great. I think I got a B on that, actually."

"Oh no, the horror!"

"Actually..."

She giggled a little and reached into the pool, splashing at him. "Smart ass."

"Definitely," he said, lying back down after he'd shaken out his hair.

"You seem better."

"Well, relative scale, but, yeah. My favorite person is spending most of the summer here. So far, The Beast has only hunted the once and everyone on the estate was safe, and I might think about going back to St. Stephens and St. Agnes in the fall."

She almost squealed in her excitement. "That'd be really great. My other _Monitor_minions just aren't as good as you."

He grinned and it was genuine. "I am a class by myself."

She nodded and patted his arm. "So who's your favorite person?"

"Davis," he deadpanned, sticking out his tongue and blurring off.

She rolled her eyes. She'd walked right into that one. "Have fun finishing that exam, smart ass."

When Davis came down the stairs from sleeping in-he'd practiced a ride along until 5 a.m.-she could tell something was wrong. His eyes were bloodshot, his hands shook like a coffee addict who'd been trying to switch to decaf, and he was avoiding making eye contact.

She looked up from her lunch and frowned. "Davis? What's wrong?"

"I...nothing. It's nothing."

"No, it's not," she said, looking up to see if the maid was anywhere around. "Did you get another ability?"

"No. I'm fine really."

She put a hand on his arm and shook her head. "No, you're not. You promised me that you'd talk if you got upset or if something, you know-"

"_Alien_," he whispered.

"Yeah, _that_happened. We talked about how it's not fair that everyone worries about Clark and not about you. No what happened?"

Davis looked around and still talked in a low voice. Discretion always. "By the creek, I don't want mom or grandfather or anyone else to overhear."

She nodded and followed him out there, even more worried by his silence as he slipped across the grounds. When they arrived there, Davis sat down on the ground and picked up a smooth stone, as he tended to do, and started to rub his thumb over its surface. Following suit, Chloe sat down beside him and touched his arm.

"Davis?"

"I don't know where to start."

"Then just start wherever you can. Here's a simple question. What has you so spooked? Clearly it's not nothing."

He looked down at his hands and skipped the stone, watching as it crossed half the creek. "I had a nightmare."

She frowned. "What kind?"

"I don't...I don't even know how to explain it. Just that there was so much blood everywhere."

"Is this about your ride along? About being worried about not being able to save people?"

Davis shivered. "No, this was different."

"How?"

He looked back at her and she could see the strain in his neck and in his shoulders as he tried to hold as much back as he could. "I dreamed I rolled around in it, that I liked it. It definitely wasn't from someone I was helping."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. It wasn't even a nightmare because when I woke up, until I remembered who I was, it left me content and peaceful. I _liked_it."

"What?"

"I liked rolling in the blood; it felt amazing. Until I really came to, it was probaly the best dream I'd had in _months_."

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Opening them again, she looked back up at him. "You think you're changing too, don't you?"

"I think Clark and I grew up differently, evolved differently, I guess, but I think I'm going to end up just like him. I used to tell him all the time, even after I knew about my Schnauzer, that it was going to be okay. I have spent the two years he's known about The Beast saying to his face that it's fine and we'll find a way to control it and save him, that I'd take his burdens if I could."

"Trade places?"

Davis nodded. "I used to say that and I thought I meant it; maybe I did as long as I didn't have to actually worry about changing."

"But now you're terrified."

He leaned his head against her shoulder and, despite herself, she began to stroke his back, small circular motions as she went. "I don't want to be like him. I guess I was lying but there's a difference in hypotheticals and then in facing being what he is...what _we_are in person. Neither of us want to be killers."

"It was a dream. It doesn't mean you're changing."

"I'm invulnerable like he is. Who's to say I won't change even more?"

"But you're older too, much older, and so far all you are is invulnerable. Clark can do a million things and you can't do any of them but apparently protect yourself. You might not have the same condition."

"Or I might just have been delayed all this time. God, we can barely take care of the Squirt. How are mom and granfather, even if they buy up every fucking deer from here to Missouri, how are they supposed to care for two of us?"

"They always find a way."

"It's a huge burden to her. I don't want to be cut up into tiny pieces in a lab, believe me, but I don't understand why she took us home sometimes, and I don't understand at all how after Clark did what he did the first time that she didn't give us up. We've cost her so much. She's never dated since Jonathan. Her whole focus in life for thirteen years has been protecting our secret and Clark from himself. I can't add to that."

"You're not going to try what Clark did? I'm not going to stand by and watch both of you try and off yourselves!" she said, pushing his head up from her shoulder.

His eyes widened. "No, I'd never. I just meant, if I had to, I'd go somewhere far away. I dunno, Yosemite or maybe even the woods of Alaska where there's ton of space. I can learn to live off the land when I'm human and have so much space to hunt away from people as The Beast. Maybe the only way to live with this is just to be away from everyone."

"What?" Surely he had to be joking. Clark was already out of school and it was dubious if he'd go back. It'd kill her if Davis disappeared one day out to the Great White North.

"I might need to leave. You don't know what it feels like. The blood was a dream but the feeling from rolling in it? God, Chloe, it was orgasmic."

She blushed and looked away. That was never anything she associated with gore and death. "I..."

"See, not a human thing to say, not a safe thing either. Squirt comes first. If grandfather and mom only have the emotional energy to keep one of us, it'd be him. I can manage on my own."

"So now you're just gonna run? You ran away from college and from us-"

"There's not an us."

She cupped his chin and licked her lips just a little. "There could have been."

"I..." he started, but didn't pull away. "I'm not at a point where I've changed yet, but if I did, I'd leave."

"And then you'd just stop being near anyone or anything you love. That's cowardly. You think you're being noble but you're not even thinking about the people you'd leave behind. Your family loves you. _I_love you." She was crying then and it was too much emotion, too much fear and passion and stress all rolled up into one tidal wave. She kissed him.

Like last year, he gave in immediately, but unlike last year, it kept building in intensity, until she'd crawled up on his lap, trying to shuck off his shirt.

When she heard a familiar voice.

"Chloe?"

Davis almost threw her off as they scrambled to their feet. "Clark-"

Clark's eyes flared red and she knew he was having trouble controlling his heat vision. Her heart raced. If Clark changed here, then they'd both be dead. He was so pissed that The Beast would finish them both off for him. "No, no! I get to talk. Was this some sick game from the two of you? Chloe pities me and then you two laugh behind my back while she what? Sucks you off?"

Chloe felt nauseated. She wanted to protest that wasn't what it was and, technically, it was new and not yet sexual, but she had ended up playing the two brothers against each other even if she hadn't meant it.

Horrified, she watched Davis react instinctively and punch Clark in the face. Chloe rushed forward anticipating him to pull back a shattered hand. Instead it was Clark who spit out blood and reeled back.

Davis's eyes were huge. "My god, Clark, I didn't mean to."

Clark's eyes were incandescent. "Maybe you did. I swear if I could make myself change, we'd see how fucking invulnerable you are."

Both she and Davis shuddered at the thought and Clark shook his head. She resisted the motherly urge to reach out to him, to try getting the blood off his lips. "Clark, you're bleeding."

He blinked, actually aware of it for the first time. He sneered back at her. "I guess things change fast. I'd fuck him soon, Chlo, before he ends up just like me."

Before she could react, Clark was gone, speeding to wherever he wanted.

There'd be no way to find him and, for the first time since she met him, Chloe wasn't sure she wanted to.

_Martha_

She knew it was wrong the second the slap echoed through her office. She didn't care. Chloe Sullivan had come into their lives and ruined everything she'd built and protected for over a decade. Martha was furious. She'd warned both her sons Chloe would ruin them all. She'd told Chloe more than once to get her emotions sorted out or to leave them all alone for good.

"Mom!" Davis shouted, rushing forward to restrain her. "What were you thinking?"

"What were you two thinking? She's sixteen for Christ's sakes and your brother's in love with her."

"I..." Davis floundered.

"Ms. Clark, I can explain."

"You're a whore. I think that sums it up."

Chloe flinched. Good. "No, we'd never done anything like that before. I swear on Dinah's life it was today. We've worked so hard to ignore what we feel and why we feel it. We never wanted to hurt Clark."

"What makes today special? I took you into my home against every instinct I had, took you into our confidence and now my son could be anywhere from the North Pole to Patagonia. Do you understand? He's so fast that if he doesn't want to be found, we'll never ever find him." Her steel resolve wavered and she had to wait a few minutes before she could continue the way that was befitting her. "I've spent so long protecting my boys and now Clark could be lost forever because you wanted to ride my other son."

"Mom!" Davis said, pulling her back a few steps. "That's enough. That's more than enough. Chloe and I made a huge mistake. I had a nightmare, she was comforting me-"

"I bet she was."

"And one thing led to another. We were weak and stupid and Clark caught us. It was a complete clusterfuck and I take responsibility for it, but you have to know that we didn't do it to hurt him."

"Mission accomplished anyway. Davis, I expected so much more of you. I depend on you."

"Maybe you put too much pressure on him," Chloe said.

"You stupid upstart. You have no idea what you've even done. Are you happy now? Happy your pet project has exploded in your face."

Chloe was quieter when she spoke. "No, but it's not what you think. Davis is changing."

She nodded. She'd been expecting it since the day Davis had gained invulnerability. No matter why or how her boys developed differently, she'd always been expecting Davis to start to show Beast-like tendencies as well. Of course, she'd hoped she'd be wrong, that her other son wouldn't suffer the same pain and isolation, but Martha Clark was a pragmatist. The logic dictated that Clark and Davis were the same species and that whatever happened to Clark, even if he grew into his abilities faster, would befall Davis as well.

Sighing, she softened and squeezed her older son's hand. "How long?"

"What?"

"How long have you...have you been hunting?"

He paled. "No. I just have been having dreams about it and they're not pleasant."

She took that to mean they were inhuman.

"But you've not killed anything yet? Not changed?"

"Not that I know of, no," he said, looking away, clearly embarrassed.

"Sweetheart, I'm going to tell you what I've always told Clark. If you are changing, growing into that other side too, then it's who you are and we have a place to deal with it."

"And you'd have two of us running around. I mean, fuck, what if...God, this sounds so stupid."

"What?" she prodded, ignoring Chloe entirely. She was insignificant again in Clark family matters. "What's stupid, baby?"

"What if you can't even have two whatever the fuck we are near each other? Like a dominance fight or fuck, this is so crazy."

She hugged him tight, straining on her toes to reach him. He wasn't as tall as Clark but he was tall enough and her boys had gotten so big, had grown so much. How could she keep protecting them not only from their abilities but from themselves, from so much disdain and fear for their nature.

They were what they were and she'd always taken that chance. Spikey or human like, she loved them.

They were _hers_, always.

"We'll worry about that as it comes. Right now you're just invulnerable."

"Actually," that pest added. "Davis is as strong as Clark."

She blinked back at her son. "I don't understand. Since when?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't notice anything, but he said something truly ugly about Chloe and I lost control and slugged him. I thought I'd shatter my hand but I made him spit blood and his jaw was already starting to swell before he blurred off."

"You what?"

"I didn't mean it!"

"We do not solve problems in this house with violence ever. We seek vengeance, yes, but we do it with smarter means. You know this. You can't be violent or give him into those instincts. It makes The Beast side come closer to the surface."

"Mom, I know."

She shook her head, and pulled out her cell.

"Ms. Clark? What are you doing?"

"First, calling security. You're no longer welcome anywhere near my family. Second, having you blacklisted from _The Daily Planet_."

"You can't!"

"I can. You'll never get a job there. I know their legal department and Pauline Kahn personally. I told you Chloe never to hurt my boys, that there would be consequences. Consider these they and be glad I didn't go after your father's job or retirement. Hello, Alan? Yes, Ms. Sullivan's leaving. See she has her things packed to leave in under twenty minutes."

"Mom you can't do this."

"Davis, I have to start searching two continents for my son and she did that. I can do anything I want. Now, Chloe, get out."

_Clark_

The August sun would have felt amazing on his skin, would have made him strong and would have made his inner Beast content. But there was little sunlight in The Narrows of Gotham. It was choked with smoke from factories and God knew what else. He had a penthouse on the other side of the city, something that took up the top two floors of the highrise across from Wayne Enterprises. It was the best place to take his conquests back to.

He spun the ring aroud on his finger. He'd broken into his old school first to get the red meteor rock, to make it so he wouldn't care-not about his family, not about the monster growing inside of him, leeching out his humanity, and not about that bitch.

No, not that bitch.

There were millions of women in Gotham.

He'd spent the last eight weeks bedding dozens of them, sometimes two or three a night, the women he took home half wasted from clubs.

The first few times had come with accidents. A shattered wrist here, bruised ribs there. Although he never sunk low enough to take home prostitutes, for those unfortunate test runs, he'd shelled out thousands of dollars. It was hush money and for the medical bills.

After two weeks he'd gotten very good at what he did, and found new uses for heat vision and superspeed beside.

At home, secluded from the world, Clark Kent was an abomination. In this city, Kal was king. Even if the rumor had spread about him being rough had spread across the club scene, so had his reputation for making women scream in all the right ways. He never wanted for nubile blondes, always blondes. Some were tall and leggy, some petite, some with ice blue eyes. He dind't need that bitch. Her nose too big, her arms too fat. She wasn't that pretty. He had a hundred women waiting to ride him.

He never thought about _that one_.

Really he didn't.

The Beast had not come out to play yet. No mysterious deaths in the slums or the financial district, no missing pets in his building. He never kid himself into thinking it was gone forever. One day, he'd wake up coated in blood again, probably with a fucking poodle at his feet. Maybe a whore or a drug addict, who knew.

Could be a nun.

The Beast didn't discriminate; it just wanted blood.

But for right now, he was having fun. For the first time off that choke chain his cunt mother and wrapped him in, allowed to live among humans with no limits and he was God, like now, when he'd finished wiping the floor with the Dark Knight.

Bones crunched so fucking easily, especially in the wrist.

The Batman wouldn't be patrolling any time soon.

He'd dogged him all summer, noticing the way he'd ripped off other mob groups in The Narrows. Clark wasn't stupid enough to rob from banks wholesale. He liked his life in Gotham, thank you, and anything showy would get his fucking family back on his trail. Stealing from the Falcones? More than feasible and downright fun.

The Bat should have left well enough alone. Stealing from thieves wasn't really wrong was it? Wasn't it more like a public service? It wasn't like it had ever been theirs to begin with.

He'd toyed with Batman all summer, letting him think he could come close to besting him in a fight. Today, he'd grown tired of the game and simply snapped the man's wrist in superspeed. He didn't care about murder. The Beast craved blood; Clark just wanted fun. Capital punishment wasn't that entertaining.

He'd spit a couple times on the other man's cowl and told him to get the fuck off his territory or next time he'd go for the spine and then Gotham would have no one again. Talk about being the hero of the underworld if he did it. But, again, that didn't interest him. He didn't want to maim or kill. He just wanted a pass to keep up his apartment so that he could keep up his parade of blondes.

Maybe when the other man hightailed it out of there, he'd get the point.

Clark snorted and blurred out of The Narrows. He had ripped off the Russian mob this time and had 100k burning through his pockets. Time to get a few blondes to share it with.

And he wasn't thinking about her at all, really he wasn't.

_Davis_

"Mom, any luck?" he asked, playing a bit with his cereal.

He hadn't had an appetite since Clark had left. He'd managed to finish his EMT training but otherwise hadn't thought about much at all. He emailed Chloe but only the barest details. Somehow, he didn't really trust his mother not to be monitoring him. Occasionally he called her from the fire station he was now working out of, but she rarely picked up. Apparently voice contact was asking too much.

His mom had been following up on a rash of cattle mutilations and murders in Wyoming and just arrived home today. "Coyotes apparently. Nothing in there indicated anything spiked. I don't know what to do with finding him. He's hidden so well."

"We trained him to," Davis countered.

She sighed and he could see the strain the last two months had taken on her. She'd forgotten to touch up her hair and the roots had gone gray, her fingers always twitched for a cigarette, and by two she'd always had her first bit of Scotch for the day.

He'd done this.

He'd been weak and selfish and ruined his family.

"So what do we do now?"

She shrugged. "Wait for another lead about mysterious deaths. It's the only thing we know Clark can't cover up. If The Beast gets out, it will leave a trail."

"But that could still take months," Davis countered. "I'm so sorry, mom."

She pulled out a cigarette from her silver case and lit it. "I know. It's moot now. Finding him is what matters and now that Ms. Sullivan is out of our lives, it'll be easier when she's back."

He sighed and pushed his bowl away. He'd not be eating breakfast again today. "Did you really blacklist her from the Planet?"

"_The Metropolis Journal_too. She ruined your brother, did something worse than if he'd been left alone to begin with."

"What?"

"She gave him false hope. I don't mean she led him on. Chloe was blatantly clear she never loved him, but she gave him hope he could fit in."

"Clark can. He did so well for two years!"

"No, if anything, this experiment with Chloe has taught me that this is exactly where he belongs. Here with his family and protected. It's the only place he can be."

Davis was about to object when the house phone rang. Carefully-since his strength manifested he'd gone through a crushing things stage-he picked up the receiver. "Clark residence, Davis speaking."

The voice on the other line was gruff, distorted a little and it shocked him. "Your brother's in Gotham. Come get him."

The line clicked dead.

"Davis?" his mom asked, taking a drag. "What did they say?"

"I...I think we just got a call from...well this is insane."

"Was it Clark?"

"No, I think it might have been The Batman. He says Clark's in Gotham."

"I'll get the car," she said, starting to stand.

He shook his head. "No. Clark's incredibly angry right now and he's dangerous."

"He'd never-"

"You didn't hear the way he talked. He _wanted_to tear us both apart. He said he would have if he could make the change voluntary and I believed him."

"He wouldn't hurt me. I'm his mother."

"Maybe not, but you're also just human. Let me get him home. If he turns violent or tries to fight us, I can stop him."

"You're not as fast as he is. You know that."

"But I think I'm stronger. Let me do this. I have to make it right."

His mom sighed. "I want to help."

"Then get his room prepared, have Cecille make his favorite dinner. He _is_coming home tonight. I promise."

The afour hour drive to Gotham was the longest thing Davis had ever done. It was a city of seven million people almost as large and imposing as Metropolis. Even if Clark were in Gotham, even if The Batman had found him, there was not way to narrow it down to the _where_, and Davis seriously doubted he and the Bat were about to become phone buddies.

So he'd try the old fashioned method.

Clark would stay, he figured, to the affluent side of town and stay away from The Narrows and the slums. Despite most of his isolation, Clark had been brought up in high society. It was where he was comfortable. With his strength, his brother could have been pawning diamonds for months to finance his lifestyle.

Davis could find him. He just had to think like Phillip Marlowe.

It took him working through ten luxury high rises before he came to the one closest to Wayne Enterprises. The doorman recognized the picture he'd brought of Clark instantly say that, ahem, _Mr. El_had leased out hte two upper floors. He'd also winked at Davis when he mentioned Clark always had company.

Davis couldn't process that as he rode the elevator to the top floor. It wasn't jealousy, albeit he'd not slept with anyone since Jenna in high school, bugt it was confusion. Clark was painfully shy and he'd only ever loved, truly loved, one girl and that was the root of all their problems.

The string of women that the doorman implied had come through his door didn't fit, at all.

Davis got off the elevator and knocked on his brother's door, hoping that he'd open without looking out first.

Sometimes, providence smiled.

Clark pulled open the door and immediately Davis could tell something was off. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he were a human on a bender. Looking down, Davis spied a classring. Clark must have stolen it to help dose himself.

"Clark-"

His brother smiled and it reminded Davis vaguely of the satisfied look on his mother's face when she'd watched Chloe thrown off the estate. "Davis, what a surprise. Come on in. My guests just left."

Davis stepped into the room, trying not to gape at his brother. Was Clark even taller than he had been? He was broader, had filled out considerably in the two months he been gone and that scared Davis a little. If Clark's strength had grown as much, then Davis might not be able to take him anymore.

"I know about your guests. Do you put notches above your bed post?"

Clark, still shirtless, laughed and grabbed milk from out of the fridge. "That's cute. That's real cute." Gulping straight from the carton, he added. "Come to have fun too? We can run this town if we wanted. None of those bitches in our way."

"Bitches?"

"Martha and Chloe. All that cloying mothering bullshit. I mean, I got it."

Davis blinked. Two months dosed out of his mind on red meteor rock had to be playing havoc with Clark's mind. "Do you?"

"We're aliens."

"I was aware," Davis said, sitting on the edge of Clark's sofa and watching his brother pace. "What's your point."

"Aliens don't have families. We don't have to worry about rules or attachments or any of that human crap. We're _better_. Last night, I fucking snapped The Batman's wrist in two without any effort."

"You what?"

"You heard me. Killing doesn't interest me, you know that."

"Do I?"

"Not like this, not without the spikes," Clark clarified. "But that stick in the mud had some collateral damage coming. Spit on him too, big old loogie."

Davis couldn't hide his disgust. "Ugh, but that wasn't too bright."

"It wasn't?"

"Must have run a trace on that stuff. How he knew to find us from that...I dunno, maybe he's good at hacking the lab mom owns controlling interest in, the one that hides all our ship and other dirty info. I don't care how he made the connection. He called me."

"When you want to reach out and touch someone."

"I'm serious. He called me and I'm sure he wants you out of his city."

"Maybe I'd like both of you out of _mine_."

Davis looked down at the ring. "This isn't you. You're drugging yourself."

"I made the pain stop. I don't even worry about The Beast. I have fun, do what I want. I don't hide anymore."

"So a different girl-"

"Sometimes three or four," he leered.

"So that's what you are now? Crime and a string of nameless women. Mom is gonna be so pissed."

"Martha Clark's a rancid old cunt and you know it, so controlling, so calm and in charge. I can see why Jonathan wanted her gone anyway. Who can live with that for a lifetime. I've done in thirteen years and I'm fucking sick of her."

"No you're not. I know you're not."

"How?"

Davis nodded toward the floor by the bed. "You snuck home long enough to grab the red blanket. It means you still feel secure with it, with memories of her. You're still having the nightmares too, aren't you, about being trapped in our ship, about the dark."

Clark surged forward then and grabbed Davis by the throat. The height difference was obvious now, and Davis took measured breaths as Clark sped to the far wall and pushed his body flat against it.

"Interesting."

"Interesting what?" Clark shouted and now his cool demeanor was gone. Davis had struck nerves. "I don't need grandfather or mom or you or that bitch Chloe. I don't need anyone."

"You wanted me to run wild with you not five minutes ago."

"If you want to be fun, not talk non stop about mom, about humans."

"What are you gonna do?" he asked, taking in precious air as Clark's grip tightened. "Are you going to try killing me?"

"Do you think I could," Clark practically purred. "Do you think that's the only way to end this, end us? Maybe one of us really does just have to kill the other. If I punched you, you think your head would end up in Metropolis. I wonder if I could manage this."

Davis swallowed and hoped this was the right move. "If I helped raise a little brother who could kill, the go ahead and do it, cause I'd never hurt you. I'm here to take you home."

"Never going back," Clark snarled, pulling his arm back to strike.

Davis closed his eyes. "I love you."

The ring shattered against the wall beside him and it was the most relief he'd ever felt.

Deep down, he wasn't sure his brother would spare him.

Something dark and ugly unfurling inside of him said that if the situations were reversed, he'd never show mercy.

_Chloe_

School had started a week ago and she was shocked to see Clark back. She had gotten an email from Davis that Clark was back and that it had ended up in a lot of tears and "I'm sorries" to his mother and grandfather. Davis mentioned just being glad it hadn't devolved in Gotham to an actual fist fight.

Chloe understood that. Clark was so strong and fast. It didn't seem like odds anyone, even another whatever they were, could win.

But Clark didn't acknowledge her. He'd joined the debate team and the mock trial team this year and she understood that, although it was ironic. She was no longer allowed to even be an underling at _The Monitor_. The Clarks really did own Metropolis.

She sighed and patted Dinah, trying to figure out pre-calc on her own. Dad was in Nairobi this week and then in Rio the next. At least she thought so; it felt impossible to keep track anymore. "I earned this, you know."

"Meow?"

"I ruined his family, broke him. I deserve to have what I love taken away. It's just so hard to go back to having no friends. Maybe I could talk dad into transferring me quickly to Chatham when he gets home."

"Meow," Dinah said, butting her head against Chloe's leg.

"Good point. Let's go downstairs and grab a snack."

Somehow, she wasn't even surprised that The Beast was at her doorstep, although the large planter of tulips it had stolen from her neighbor in lieu of a dead animal was a nice change of pace.

Rolling her eyes indulgently, she opened the door, gratified when he came in and Dinah had the sense to rush back upstairs. "Come in, Clark."

The Beast nodded a little and handed her the flowers planter. "Chloe!"

"Yes, Chloe, and you're?"

"Kal-elllll."

"Good enough," she said, sighing. "So, you'll visit me with gifts when you have spikes and grey skin but won't give me the time of day at school. That's not really fair."

"Chloe?"

"I know, too many words," she said, patting his arm carefully. "I tell you what. Daddy has some steaks in the fridge he got for me to cook for myself as a Saturday night special. You can have 'em raw and we'll go watch _Lilo and Stitch_."

"Chloe?"

"Steak," she said, pulling out the meat.

The Beast's maw opened wide and it was as close to a smile as it could manage. "Steakkkk."

"Now you're learning."

_Clark_

He knew she'd track him down in the library eventually. Chloe Sullivan had a messiah complex and a big mouth, a dangerous and annoying combination. He would have walked out on her but the concerned look on her face told him all he needed to know.

The Beast had visited her again.

"Oh god. Are you okay?" he asked, and he was reaching out to stroke her hair before he could stop himself. No woman in Gotham had come close to her and no amount of self drugging could help him fool himself enough to believe they had.

"You were a gentleman as always, even brought me tulips this time."

"Huh?"

She pulled him into a private study room, one reserved for when kids had oral exams for French class. "You ruined my neighbor's flower box, but you did great. No dead animals!"

"I think this is a weird milestone to celebrate."

"Well I'd asked The Beast...you...whatever twice to try for flowers or something else I didn't have to dispose of. I think you understood and remembered. I mean, this is showing definite progress for your other half. I told you we could figure all this out."

"Cause I brought you tulips?"

"Cause you didn't bring me a dead animal. I'm not stupid. I understand that that part of you is always going to have to hunt but, for fuck's sake, it's what your mom bought the deer for. The point is The Beast can learn. I know it can."

"So we're gonna school me in being a fluffy pet?"

"No, but we can maybe train you some restraint. I...Kyla might really have been an accident. You've never ever gone after humans. I think The Beast was being territorial with her wolf. I'm so sorry that it worked that way, but I think you can...I think we can help you enough not to hurt humans ever."

"I want to believe that, I do."

"The Beast can be taught. This is a massive step. We can do so much to keep you from hurting people."

"But I'll always be lashed to it."

She hugged him and he couldn't push her away. She was his weakness. "If it makes you feel better, when you're not hunting, you're perfectly pleasant."

"This is a bizarre conversation."

"You're colorful, is all."

And damn it if he didn't miss her and her weird perspective. He had acquaintences from two years at school and even was making a few friends at mock trial, but no one would ever be like Chloe because she _knew_and she hadn't run.

He sighed and forced her away. "We have to talk."

"I'm sorry. What happened with Davis? I couldn't control it. I couldn't. I'd give anything if I didn't feel about him like that and I could love you back the way you love me, if I could make this simple, but I can't."

He swallowed. "He's like me, so it's not even The Beast or the powers. _Clark Kent's_not enough for you."

She put her hand on his cheek. "I wish you were. You're the best friend I've ever had, but I don't...I can't make myself feel things that aren't there. I never meant to hurt anyone."

"I understand. You can date him, you know."

"Excuse me?"

"I won't be upset anymore. I don't want him to miss out on things because of me. I'm not an idiot. He's closed himself off on purpose." He laughed bitterly. "There's only one girl in the world who knows our darkest secrets and doesn't care and we're both in love with her."

"Clark, there might be others some day. Hell, maybe one day we'll find out exactly what you are and you'll find more of your own kind. I'm not the only girl who can feel for you."

"You're the only one I love," he countered. "I was drugged in Gotham."

"I know."

"I slept my way through dozens of blondes, trying to replace you."

She looked stricken but had no right to. She'd been the one to push him away. "What?"

"I slept around a lot, but no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I tried to let go to the red meteor rocks, I couldn't get you out of my thoughts. The Beast and I agree on one thing and that's that you're the one and I'll move on, I promise, but no one will ever be like you are to me and that's not your fault."

"I..."

"It's mine," he said, bending down to kiss her cheek, staying there a few seconds longer than he had to. "You can be with him because he deserves it. He's given up everything he ever wanted to protect me and himself. I just...be good to him."

"Clark-"

"Chlo, I have to go. I can't be noble and then argue sense into you, okay?"

"I..."

"You're saying that a lot. Look, I hate debate. I'll see you Monday at _The Monitor_."

"You can't."

"Well I think I might be a little rusty and we're in a weird place right now, but we can still be friends and we're a good mini-Woodward and Bernstein."

"No, I'm not allowed on staff. Your mom blacklisted me from that and getting DP or The Journal internships."

"For how long?"

"Forever," she said, opening the door. "But we'll always have lunch."

_Martha_

She woke up in the middle of the night to the feel of hot, fetid breath on her neck. She knew what she'd find before she even opened her eyes. Staring back at her, for the first time, were gleaming red eyes, like something out of Clive Barker or Stephen King.

She choked back instinctual fear and remembered to breath.

This was her son, her youngest and her baby.

She would not be afraid of him.

"Clark?"

Clark was growling low, menacingly, and she wondered if she was going to die here and now, if everything he'd said when he'd apologized was still masking his true feelings. She reached out toward him and blurred away, apparating on the other side of her bed. He flung a collection of newspapers onto her lap, and, looking down, Martha realized they were all pieces for _The Daily Planet_or _The Monitor_that had been written by Chloe Sullivan.

"I don't...I don't understand."

Clark growled again and Martha fought to keep herself from hyperventilating. It was her son; he'd never kill her.

Clark pointed to the papers and let out a low rumble, "Chloooeeeee."

"I...what about Chloe?"

He pointed again to the papers and she was left remembering what it was like trying to teach him English and how frustrated he'd get.

"Chloeeeee."

"You want me to un-blacklist her."

"Chloe!"

She looked between him and the papers. She hated that girl, hated her almost as much as she did Jonathan Kent, but both her sons couldn't leave her alone, would never be able to, she was realizing. Looking back at the jagged shark-like teeth erupting from Clark's jaw, she gulped.

"I'll call Pauline tomorrow."

The Beast nodded and one taloned hand carefully patted her head. "Mother."

Yes, mother.

Oh God what had she done?


	14. Chapter 14

_Chloe___

June.

June meant no _Monitor_to distract her. It meant her dad on a tour of Lionel's holdings in Europe for six weeks. It meant that this year she'd missed out on a DP internship because she'd been too mired in Clark's affairs. She didn't regret it, but it meant that she had nothing to do. It was then that, despite Ms. Clark's misgivings and glares, Clark had invited her to stay with them.

It wasn't really a kinky or inappropriate thing.

Their estate was big enough to have wings and a staff, for Christ's sakes. She was staying on the opposite end from the boys' bedroom, right next to their mother's room. It wasn't completely awkward, but she understood she was being watched closely. Chloe resented it a little. She'd been part of the family and working through all the issues of trying to help Clark and Davis for two years basically.

She wasn't looking to hurt anyone. She'd never turn on either boy and publish their secrets and, even though the way she felt about Davis had never abated, she'd never hurt Clark either. Chloe merely sat on her feelings and pushed them away, not hoping they'd go because she liked how Davis made her feel, but just out of her mind because everything was an impossible situation.

The first two weeks of her stay had gone well enough, even with the death glares one Martha Clark kept sending her way and the baiting she did during dinners. Davis or Clark would deflect, Chloe would take it in stride, and Ms. Clark would start over again the next night with the power plays with her.

Maybe Martha Clark was just scared of losing her boys in a different way to another woman.

Chloe sighed and leaned back against the chaise lounge by the pool. It was large, Olympic sized easily, and made a bit in the style of nature-fake rocks, lagoons, the like. Whoever had owned the house before the Clarks had had fantasies of being Hugh Hefner. She figured that Clark's grandfather and mother had never changed the pool if only because the faked grotto and everything else might have appealed to Clark when he was _less himself_, the same way the caverns or the large forest behind the house must have.

Or maybe Clark and Davis, being normal as far as their entertainment tastes, wanted to pretend they lived in the Playboy mansion. Men were men after all, no matter what planet they'd been born on.

"You know, Cecille can get you more soda," Clark said, eying where she'd been nursing a Sunkist.

Chloe pulled down her shades and smiled back at Clark. The sun was good for him; she knew it. Since the pool had been opened, he'd laid out every day, at least for several hours. He never burned, never even tanned, but he just sat in the warming rays, and would come back in wearing a broad smile.

Moving out here had been a good idea in some ways.

"Nope, just chillin' like a villain."

Clark smirked. "Me too. One more test to take in an hour or so and I am officially a junior."

"Which test?"

"European history. I reread the textbook yesterday. I'm ready to take it."

"It must be nice."

"Hmm?"

"To be able to memorize anything you've ever seen. School must never be hard."

"History and English are. Memorizing doesn't mean you have insights into essay writing. It's why I really like English. Math's a puzzle and that's fun but always too easy. English really makes me think. I mean, I memorized all the lines from 'The Raven' but it doesn't mean my analysis on my final was that great. I think I got a B on that, actually."

"Oh no, the horror!"

"Actually..."

She giggled a little and reached into the pool, splashing at him. "Smart ass."

"Definitely," he said, lying back down after he'd shaken out his hair.

"You seem better."

"Well, relative scale, but, yeah. My favorite person is spending most of the summer here. So far, The Beast has only hunted the once and everyone on the estate was safe, and I might think about going back to St. Stephens and St. Agnes in the fall."

She almost squealed in her excitement. "That'd be really great. My other _Monitor_minions just aren't as good as you."

He grinned and it was genuine. "I am a class by myself."

She nodded and patted his arm. "So who's your favorite person?"

"Davis," he deadpanned, sticking out his tongue and blurring off.

She rolled her eyes. She'd walked right into that one. "Have fun finishing that exam, smart ass."

When Davis came down the stairs from sleeping in-he'd practiced a ride along until 5 a.m.-she could tell something was wrong. His eyes were bloodshot, his hands shook like a coffee addict who'd been trying to switch to decaf, and he was avoiding making eye contact.

She looked up from her lunch and frowned. "Davis? What's wrong?"

"I...nothing. It's nothing."

"No, it's not," she said, looking up to see if the maid was anywhere around. "Did you get another ability?"

"No. I'm fine really."

She put a hand on his arm and shook her head. "No, you're not. You promised me that you'd talk if you got upset or if something, you know-"

"_Alien_," he whispered.

"Yeah, _that_happened. We talked about how it's not fair that everyone worries about Clark and not about you. No what happened?"

Davis looked around and still talked in a low voice. Discretion always. "By the creek, I don't want mom or grandfather or anyone else to overhear."

She nodded and followed him out there, even more worried by his silence as he slipped across the grounds. When they arrived there, Davis sat down on the ground and picked up a smooth stone, as he tended to do, and started to rub his thumb over its surface. Following suit, Chloe sat down beside him and touched his arm.

"Davis?"

"I don't know where to start."

"Then just start wherever you can. Here's a simple question. What has you so spooked? Clearly it's not nothing."

He looked down at his hands and skipped the stone, watching as it crossed half the creek. "I had a nightmare."

She frowned. "What kind?"

"I don't...I don't even know how to explain it. Just that there was so much blood everywhere."

"Is this about your ride along? About being worried about not being able to save people?"

Davis shivered. "No, this was different."

"How?"

He looked back at her and she could see the strain in his neck and in his shoulders as he tried to hold as much back as he could. "I dreamed I rolled around in it, that I liked it. It definitely wasn't from someone I was helping."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. It wasn't even a nightmare because when I woke up, until I remembered who I was, it left me content and peaceful. I _liked_it."

"What?"

"I liked rolling in the blood; it felt amazing. Until I really came to, it was probaly the best dream I'd had in _months_."

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Opening them again, she looked back up at him. "You think you're changing too, don't you?"

"I think Clark and I grew up differently, evolved differently, I guess, but I think I'm going to end up just like him. I used to tell him all the time, even after I knew about my Schnauzer, that it was going to be okay. I have spent the two years he's known about The Beast saying to his face that it's fine and we'll find a way to control it and save him, that I'd take his burdens if I could."

"Trade places?"

Davis nodded. "I used to say that and I thought I meant it; maybe I did as long as I didn't have to actually worry about changing."

"But now you're terrified."

He leaned his head against her shoulder and, despite herself, she began to stroke his back, small circular motions as she went. "I don't want to be like him. I guess I was lying but there's a difference in hypotheticals and then in facing being what he is...what _we_are in person. Neither of us want to be killers."

"It was a dream. It doesn't mean you're changing."

"I'm invulnerable like he is. Who's to say I won't change even more?"

"But you're older too, much older, and so far all you are is invulnerable. Clark can do a million things and you can't do any of them but apparently protect yourself. You might not have the same condition."

"Or I might just have been delayed all this time. God, we can barely take care of the Squirt. How are mom and granfather, even if they buy up every fucking deer from here to Missouri, how are they supposed to care for two of us?"

"They always find a way."

"It's a huge burden to her. I don't want to be cut up into tiny pieces in a lab, believe me, but I don't understand why she took us home sometimes, and I don't understand at all how after Clark did what he did the first time that she didn't give us up. We've cost her so much. She's never dated since Jonathan. Her whole focus in life for thirteen years has been protecting our secret and Clark from himself. I can't add to that."

"You're not going to try what Clark did? I'm not going to stand by and watch both of you try and off yourselves!" she said, pushing his head up from her shoulder.

His eyes widened. "No, I'd never. I just meant, if I had to, I'd go somewhere far away. I dunno, Yosemite or maybe even the woods of Alaska where there's ton of space. I can learn to live off the land when I'm human and have so much space to hunt away from people as The Beast. Maybe the only way to live with this is just to be away from everyone."

"What?" Surely he had to be joking. Clark was already out of school and it was dubious if he'd go back. It'd kill her if Davis disappeared one day out to the Great White North.

"I might need to leave. You don't know what it feels like. The blood was a dream but the feeling from rolling in it? God, Chloe, it was orgasmic."

She blushed and looked away. That was never anything she associated with gore and death. "I..."

"See, not a human thing to say, not a safe thing either. Squirt comes first. If grandfather and mom only have the emotional energy to keep one of us, it'd be him. I can manage on my own."

"So now you're just gonna run? You ran away from college and from us-"

"There's not an us."

She cupped his chin and licked her lips just a little. "There could have been."

"I..." he started, but didn't pull away. "I'm not at a point where I've changed yet, but if I did, I'd leave."

"And then you'd just stop being near anyone or anything you love. That's cowardly. You think you're being noble but you're not even thinking about the people you'd leave behind. Your family loves you. _I_love you." She was crying then and it was too much emotion, too much fear and passion and stress all rolled up into one tidal wave. She kissed him.

Like last year, he gave in immediately, but unlike last year, it kept building in intensity, until she'd crawled up on his lap, trying to shuck off his shirt.

When she heard a familiar voice.

"Chloe?"

Davis almost threw her off as they scrambled to their feet. "Clark-"

Clark's eyes flared red and she knew he was having trouble controlling his heat vision. Her heart raced. If Clark changed here, then they'd both be dead. He was so pissed that The Beast would finish them both off for him. "No, no! I get to talk. Was this some sick game from the two of you? Chloe pities me and then you two laugh behind my back while she what? Sucks you off?"

Chloe felt nauseated. She wanted to protest that wasn't what it was and, technically, it was new and not yet sexual, but she had ended up playing the two brothers against each other even if she hadn't meant it.

Horrified, she watched Davis react instinctively and punch Clark in the face. Chloe rushed forward anticipating him to pull back a shattered hand. Instead it was Clark who spit out blood and reeled back.

Davis's eyes were huge. "My god, Clark, I didn't mean to."

Clark's eyes were incandescent. "Maybe you did. I swear if I could make myself change, we'd see how fucking invulnerable you are."

Both she and Davis shuddered at the thought and Clark shook his head. She resisted the motherly urge to reach out to him, to try getting the blood off his lips. "Clark, you're bleeding."

He blinked, actually aware of it for the first time. He sneered back at her. "I guess things change fast. I'd fuck him soon, Chlo, before he ends up just like me."

Before she could react, Clark was gone, speeding to wherever he wanted.

There'd be no way to find him and, for the first time since she met him, Chloe wasn't sure she wanted to.

_Martha_

She knew it was wrong the second the slap echoed through her office. She didn't care. Chloe Sullivan had come into their lives and ruined everything she'd built and protected for over a decade. Martha was furious. She'd warned both her sons Chloe would ruin them all. She'd told Chloe more than once to get her emotions sorted out or to leave them all alone for good.

"Mom!" Davis shouted, rushing forward to restrain her. "What were you thinking?"

"What were you two thinking? She's sixteen for Christ's sakes and your brother's in love with her."

"I..." Davis floundered.

"Ms. Clark, I can explain."

"You're a whore. I think that sums it up."

Chloe flinched. Good. "No, we'd never done anything like that before. I swear on Dinah's life it was today. We've worked so hard to ignore what we feel and why we feel it. We never wanted to hurt Clark."

"What makes today special? I took you into my home against every instinct I had, took you into our confidence and now my son could be anywhere from the North Pole to Patagonia. Do you understand? He's so fast that if he doesn't want to be found, we'll never ever find him." Her steel resolve wavered and she had to wait a few minutes before she could continue the way that was befitting her. "I've spent so long protecting my boys and now Clark could be lost forever because you wanted to ride my other son."

"Mom!" Davis said, pulling her back a few steps. "That's enough. That's more than enough. Chloe and I made a huge mistake. I had a nightmare, she was comforting me-"

"I bet she was."

"And one thing led to another. We were weak and stupid and Clark caught us. It was a complete clusterfuck and I take responsibility for it, but you have to know that we didn't do it to hurt him."

"Mission accomplished anyway. Davis, I expected so much more of you. I depend on you."

"Maybe you put too much pressure on him," Chloe said.

"You stupid upstart. You have no idea what you've even done. Are you happy now? Happy your pet project has exploded in your face."

Chloe was quieter when she spoke. "No, but it's not what you think. Davis is changing."

She nodded. She'd been expecting it since the day Davis had gained invulnerability. No matter why or how her boys developed differently, she'd always been expecting Davis to start to show Beast-like tendencies as well. Of course, she'd hoped she'd be wrong, that her other son wouldn't suffer the same pain and isolation, but Martha Clark was a pragmatist. The logic dictated that Clark and Davis were the same species and that whatever happened to Clark, even if he grew into his abilities faster, would befall Davis as well.

Sighing, she softened and squeezed her older son's hand. "How long?"

"What?"

"How long have you...have you been hunting?"

He paled. "No. I just have been having dreams about it and they're not pleasant."

She took that to mean they were inhuman.

"But you've not killed anything yet? Not changed?"

"Not that I know of, no," he said, looking away, clearly embarrassed.

"Sweetheart, I'm going to tell you what I've always told Clark. If you are changing, growing into that other side too, then it's who you are and we have a place to deal with it."

"And you'd have two of us running around. I mean, fuck, what if...God, this sounds so stupid."

"What?" she prodded, ignoring Chloe entirely. She was insignificant again in Clark family matters. "What's stupid, baby?"

"What if you can't even have two whatever the fuck we are near each other? Like a dominance fight or fuck, this is so crazy."

She hugged him tight, straining on her toes to reach him. He wasn't as tall as Clark but he was tall enough and her boys had gotten so big, had grown so much. How could she keep protecting them not only from their abilities but from themselves, from so much disdain and fear for their nature.

They were what they were and she'd always taken that chance. Spikey or human like, she loved them.

They were _hers_, always.

"We'll worry about that as it comes. Right now you're just invulnerable."

"Actually," that pest added. "Davis is as strong as Clark."

She blinked back at her son. "I don't understand. Since when?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't notice anything, but he said something truly ugly about Chloe and I lost control and slugged him. I thought I'd shatter my hand but I made him spit blood and his jaw was already starting to swell before he blurred off."

"You what?"

"I didn't mean it!"

"We do not solve problems in this house with violence ever. We seek vengeance, yes, but we do it with smarter means. You know this. You can't be violent or give him into those instincts. It makes The Beast side come closer to the surface."

"Mom, I know."

She shook her head, and pulled out her cell.

"Ms. Clark? What are you doing?"

"First, calling security. You're no longer welcome anywhere near my family. Second, having you blacklisted from _The Daily Planet_."

"You can't!"

"I can. You'll never get a job there. I know their legal department and Pauline Kahn personally. I told you Chloe never to hurt my boys, that there would be consequences. Consider these they and be glad I didn't go after your father's job or retirement. Hello, Alan? Yes, Ms. Sullivan's leaving. See she has her things packed to leave in under twenty minutes."

"Mom you can't do this."

"Davis, I have to start searching two continents for my son and she did that. I can do anything I want. Now, Chloe, get out."

_Clark_

The August sun would have felt amazing on his skin, would have made him strong and would have made his inner Beast content. But there was little sunlight in The Narrows of Gotham. It was choked with smoke from factories and God knew what else. He had a penthouse on the other side of the city, something that took up the top two floors of the highrise across from Wayne Enterprises. It was the best place to take his conquests back to.

He spun the ring aroud on his finger. He'd broken into his old school first to get the red meteor rock, to make it so he wouldn't care-not about his family, not about the monster growing inside of him, leeching out his humanity, and not about that bitch.

No, not that bitch.

There were millions of women in Gotham.

He'd spent the last eight weeks bedding dozens of them, sometimes two or three a night, the women he took home half wasted from clubs.

The first few times had come with accidents. A shattered wrist here, bruised ribs there. Although he never sunk low enough to take home prostitutes, for those unfortunate test runs, he'd shelled out thousands of dollars. It was hush money and for the medical bills.

After two weeks he'd gotten very good at what he did, and found new uses for heat vision and superspeed beside.

At home, secluded from the world, Clark Kent was an abomination. In this city, Kal was king. Even if the rumor had spread about him being rough had spread across the club scene, so had his reputation for making women scream in all the right ways. He never wanted for nubile blondes, always blondes. Some were tall and leggy, some petite, some with ice blue eyes. He dind't need that bitch. Her nose too big, her arms too fat. She wasn't that pretty. He had a hundred women waiting to ride him.

He never thought about _that one_.

Really he didn't.

The Beast had not come out to play yet. No mysterious deaths in the slums or the financial district, no missing pets in his building. He never kid himself into thinking it was gone forever. One day, he'd wake up coated in blood again, probably with a fucking poodle at his feet. Maybe a whore or a drug addict, who knew.

Could be a nun.

The Beast didn't discriminate; it just wanted blood.

But for right now, he was having fun. For the first time off that choke chain his cunt mother and wrapped him in, allowed to live among humans with no limits and he was God, like now, when he'd finished wiping the floor with the Dark Knight.

Bones crunched so fucking easily, especially in the wrist.

The Batman wouldn't be patrolling any time soon.

He'd dogged him all summer, noticing the way he'd ripped off other mob groups in The Narrows. Clark wasn't stupid enough to rob from banks wholesale. He liked his life in Gotham, thank you, and anything showy would get his fucking family back on his trail. Stealing from the Falcones? More than feasible and downright fun.

The Bat should have left well enough alone. Stealing from thieves wasn't really wrong was it? Wasn't it more like a public service? It wasn't like it had ever been theirs to begin with.

He'd toyed with Batman all summer, letting him think he could come close to besting him in a fight. Today, he'd grown tired of the game and simply snapped the man's wrist in superspeed. He didn't care about murder. The Beast craved blood; Clark just wanted fun. Capital punishment wasn't that entertaining.

He'd spit a couple times on the other man's cowl and told him to get the fuck off his territory or next time he'd go for the spine and then Gotham would have no one again. Talk about being the hero of the underworld if he did it. But, again, that didn't interest him. He didn't want to maim or kill. He just wanted a pass to keep up his apartment so that he could keep up his parade of blondes.

Maybe when the other man hightailed it out of there, he'd get the point.

Clark snorted and blurred out of The Narrows. He had ripped off the Russian mob this time and had 100k burning through his pockets. Time to get a few blondes to share it with.

And he wasn't thinking about her at all, really he wasn't.

_Davis_

"Mom, any luck?" he asked, playing a bit with his cereal.

He hadn't had an appetite since Clark had left. He'd managed to finish his EMT training but otherwise hadn't thought about much at all. He emailed Chloe but only the barest details. Somehow, he didn't really trust his mother not to be monitoring him. Occasionally he called her from the fire station he was now working out of, but she rarely picked up. Apparently voice contact was asking too much.

His mom had been following up on a rash of cattle mutilations and murders in Wyoming and just arrived home today. "Coyotes apparently. Nothing in there indicated anything spiked. I don't know what to do with finding him. He's hidden so well."

"We trained him to," Davis countered.

She sighed and he could see the strain the last two months had taken on her. She'd forgotten to touch up her hair and the roots had gone gray, her fingers always twitched for a cigarette, and by two she'd always had her first bit of Scotch for the day.

He'd done this.

He'd been weak and selfish and ruined his family.

"So what do we do now?"

She shrugged. "Wait for another lead about mysterious deaths. It's the only thing we know Clark can't cover up. If The Beast gets out, it will leave a trail."

"But that could still take months," Davis countered. "I'm so sorry, mom."

She pulled out a cigarette from her silver case and lit it. "I know. It's moot now. Finding him is what matters and now that Ms. Sullivan is out of our lives, it'll be easier when she's back."

He sighed and pushed his bowl away. He'd not be eating breakfast again today. "Did you really blacklist her from the Planet?"

"_The Metropolis Journal_too. She ruined your brother, did something worse than if he'd been left alone to begin with."

"What?"

"She gave him false hope. I don't mean she led him on. Chloe was blatantly clear she never loved him, but she gave him hope he could fit in."

"Clark can. He did so well for two years!"

"No, if anything, this experiment with Chloe has taught me that this is exactly where he belongs. Here with his family and protected. It's the only place he can be."

Davis was about to object when the house phone rang. Carefully-since his strength manifested he'd gone through a crushing things stage-he picked up the receiver. "Clark residence, Davis speaking."

The voice on the other line was gruff, distorted a little and it shocked him. "Your brother's in Gotham. Come get him."

The line clicked dead.

"Davis?" his mom asked, taking a drag. "What did they say?"

"I...I think we just got a call from...well this is insane."

"Was it Clark?"

"No, I think it might have been The Batman. He says Clark's in Gotham."

"I'll get the car," she said, starting to stand.

He shook his head. "No. Clark's incredibly angry right now and he's dangerous."

"He'd never-"

"You didn't hear the way he talked. He _wanted_to tear us both apart. He said he would have if he could make the change voluntary and I believed him."

"He wouldn't hurt me. I'm his mother."

"Maybe not, but you're also just human. Let me get him home. If he turns violent or tries to fight us, I can stop him."

"You're not as fast as he is. You know that."

"But I think I'm stronger. Let me do this. I have to make it right."

His mom sighed. "I want to help."

"Then get his room prepared, have Cecille make his favorite dinner. He _is_coming home tonight. I promise."

The afour hour drive to Gotham was the longest thing Davis had ever done. It was a city of seven million people almost as large and imposing as Metropolis. Even if Clark were in Gotham, even if The Batman had found him, there was not way to narrow it down to the _where_, and Davis seriously doubted he and the Bat were about to become phone buddies.

So he'd try the old fashioned method.

Clark would stay, he figured, to the affluent side of town and stay away from The Narrows and the slums. Despite most of his isolation, Clark had been brought up in high society. It was where he was comfortable. With his strength, his brother could have been pawning diamonds for months to finance his lifestyle.

Davis could find him. He just had to think like Phillip Marlowe.

It took him working through ten luxury high rises before he came to the one closest to Wayne Enterprises. The doorman recognized the picture he'd brought of Clark instantly say that, ahem, _Mr. El_had leased out hte two upper floors. He'd also winked at Davis when he mentioned Clark always had company.

Davis couldn't process that as he rode the elevator to the top floor. It wasn't jealousy, albeit he'd not slept with anyone since Jenna in high school, bugt it was confusion. Clark was painfully shy and he'd only ever loved, truly loved, one girl and that was the root of all their problems.

The string of women that the doorman implied had come through his door didn't fit, at all.

Davis got off the elevator and knocked on his brother's door, hoping that he'd open without looking out first.

Sometimes, providence smiled.

Clark pulled open the door and immediately Davis could tell something was off. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he were a human on a bender. Looking down, Davis spied a classring. Clark must have stolen it to help dose himself.

"Clark-"

His brother smiled and it reminded Davis vaguely of the satisfied look on his mother's face when she'd watched Chloe thrown off the estate. "Davis, what a surprise. Come on in. My guests just left."

Davis stepped into the room, trying not to gape at his brother. Was Clark even taller than he had been? He was broader, had filled out considerably in the two months he been gone and that scared Davis a little. If Clark's strength had grown as much, then Davis might not be able to take him anymore.

"I know about your guests. Do you put notches above your bed post?"

Clark, still shirtless, laughed and grabbed milk from out of the fridge. "That's cute. That's real cute." Gulping straight from the carton, he added. "Come to have fun too? We can run this town if we wanted. None of those bitches in our way."

"Bitches?"

"Martha and Chloe. All that cloying mothering bullshit. I mean, I got it."

Davis blinked. Two months dosed out of his mind on red meteor rock had to be playing havoc with Clark's mind. "Do you?"

"We're aliens."

"I was aware," Davis said, sitting on the edge of Clark's sofa and watching his brother pace. "What's your point."

"Aliens don't have families. We don't have to worry about rules or attachments or any of that human crap. We're _better_. Last night, I fucking snapped The Batman's wrist in two without any effort."

"You what?"

"You heard me. Killing doesn't interest me, you know that."

"Do I?"

"Not like this, not without the spikes," Clark clarified. "But that stick in the mud had some collateral damage coming. Spit on him too, big old loogie."

Davis couldn't hide his disgust. "Ugh, but that wasn't too bright."

"It wasn't?"

"Must have run a trace on that stuff. How he knew to find us from that...I dunno, maybe he's good at hacking the lab mom owns controlling interest in, the one that hides all our ship and other dirty info. I don't care how he made the connection. He called me."

"When you want to reach out and touch someone."

"I'm serious. He called me and I'm sure he wants you out of his city."

"Maybe I'd like both of you out of _mine_."

Davis looked down at the ring. "This isn't you. You're drugging yourself."

"I made the pain stop. I don't even worry about The Beast. I have fun, do what I want. I don't hide anymore."

"So a different girl-"

"Sometimes three or four," he leered.

"So that's what you are now? Crime and a string of nameless women. Mom is gonna be so pissed."

"Martha Clark's a rancid old cunt and you know it, so controlling, so calm and in charge. I can see why Jonathan wanted her gone anyway. Who can live with that for a lifetime. I've done in thirteen years and I'm fucking sick of her."

"No you're not. I know you're not."

"How?"

Davis nodded toward the floor by the bed. "You snuck home long enough to grab the red blanket. It means you still feel secure with it, with memories of her. You're still having the nightmares too, aren't you, about being trapped in our ship, about the dark."

Clark surged forward then and grabbed Davis by the throat. The height difference was obvious now, and Davis took measured breaths as Clark sped to the far wall and pushed his body flat against it.

"Interesting."

"Interesting what?" Clark shouted and now his cool demeanor was gone. Davis had struck nerves. "I don't need grandfather or mom or you or that bitch Chloe. I don't need anyone."

"You wanted me to run wild with you not five minutes ago."

"If you want to be fun, not talk non stop about mom, about humans."

"What are you gonna do?" he asked, taking in precious air as Clark's grip tightened. "Are you going to try killing me?"

"Do you think I could," Clark practically purred. "Do you think that's the only way to end this, end us? Maybe one of us really does just have to kill the other. If I punched you, you think your head would end up in Metropolis. I wonder if I could manage this."

Davis swallowed and hoped this was the right move. "If I helped raise a little brother who could kill, the go ahead and do it, cause I'd never hurt you. I'm here to take you home."

"Never going back," Clark snarled, pulling his arm back to strike.

Davis closed his eyes. "I love you."

The ring shattered against the wall beside him and it was the most relief he'd ever felt.

Deep down, he wasn't sure his brother would spare him.

Something dark and ugly unfurling inside of him said that if the situations were reversed, he'd never show mercy.

_Chloe_

School had started a week ago and she was shocked to see Clark back. She had gotten an email from Davis that Clark was back and that it had ended up in a lot of tears and "I'm sorries" to his mother and grandfather. Davis mentioned just being glad it hadn't devolved in Gotham to an actual fist fight.

Chloe understood that. Clark was so strong and fast. It didn't seem like odds anyone, even another whatever they were, could win.

But Clark didn't acknowledge her. He'd joined the debate team and the mock trial team this year and she understood that, although it was ironic. She was no longer allowed to even be an underling at _The Monitor_. The Clarks really did own Metropolis.

She sighed and patted Dinah, trying to figure out pre-calc on her own. Dad was in Nairobi this week and then in Rio the next. At least she thought so; it felt impossible to keep track anymore. "I earned this, you know."

"Meow?"

"I ruined his family, broke him. I deserve to have what I love taken away. It's just so hard to go back to having no friends. Maybe I could talk dad into transferring me quickly to Chatham when he gets home."

"Meow," Dinah said, butting her head against Chloe's leg.

"Good point. Let's go downstairs and grab a snack."

Somehow, she wasn't even surprised that The Beast was at her doorstep, although the large planter of tulips it had stolen from her neighbor in lieu of a dead animal was a nice change of pace.

Rolling her eyes indulgently, she opened the door, gratified when he came in and Dinah had the sense to rush back upstairs. "Come in, Clark."

The Beast nodded a little and handed her the flowers planter. "Chloe!"

"Yes, Chloe, and you're?"

"Kal-elllll."

"Good enough," she said, sighing. "So, you'll visit me with gifts when you have spikes and grey skin but won't give me the time of day at school. That's not really fair."

"Chloe?"

"I know, too many words," she said, patting his arm carefully. "I tell you what. Daddy has some steaks in the fridge he got for me to cook for myself as a Saturday night special. You can have 'em raw and we'll go watch _Lilo and Stitch_."

"Chloe?"

"Steak," she said, pulling out the meat.

The Beast's maw opened wide and it was as close to a smile as it could manage. "Steakkkk."

"Now you're learning."

_Clark_

He knew she'd track him down in the library eventually. Chloe Sullivan had a messiah complex and a big mouth, a dangerous and annoying combination. He would have walked out on her but the concerned look on her face told him all he needed to know.

The Beast had visited her again.

"Oh god. Are you okay?" he asked, and he was reaching out to stroke her hair before he could stop himself. No woman in Gotham had come close to her and no amount of self drugging could help him fool himself enough to believe they had.

"You were a gentleman as always, even brought me tulips this time."

"Huh?"

She pulled him into a private study room, one reserved for when kids had oral exams for French class. "You ruined my neighbor's flower box, but you did great. No dead animals!"

"I think this is a weird milestone to celebrate."

"Well I'd asked The Beast...you...whatever twice to try for flowers or something else I didn't have to dispose of. I think you understood and remembered. I mean, this is showing definite progress for your other half. I told you we could figure all this out."

"Cause I brought you tulips?"

"Cause you didn't bring me a dead animal. I'm not stupid. I understand that that part of you is always going to have to hunt but, for fuck's sake, it's what your mom bought the deer for. The point is The Beast can learn. I know it can."

"So we're gonna school me in being a fluffy pet?"

"No, but we can maybe train you some restraint. I...Kyla might really have been an accident. You've never ever gone after humans. I think The Beast was being territorial with her wolf. I'm so sorry that it worked that way, but I think you can...I think we can help you enough not to hurt humans ever."

"I want to believe that, I do."

"The Beast can be taught. This is a massive step. We can do so much to keep you from hurting people."

"But I'll always be lashed to it."

She hugged him and he couldn't push her away. She was his weakness. "If it makes you feel better, when you're not hunting, you're perfectly pleasant."

"This is a bizarre conversation."

"You're colorful, is all."

And damn it if he didn't miss her and her weird perspective. He had acquaintences from two years at school and even was making a few friends at mock trial, but no one would ever be like Chloe because she _knew_and she hadn't run.

He sighed and forced her away. "We have to talk."

"I'm sorry. What happened with Davis? I couldn't control it. I couldn't. I'd give anything if I didn't feel about him like that and I could love you back the way you love me, if I could make this simple, but I can't."

He swallowed. "He's like me, so it's not even The Beast or the powers. _Clark Kent's_not enough for you."

She put her hand on his cheek. "I wish you were. You're the best friend I've ever had, but I don't...I can't make myself feel things that aren't there. I never meant to hurt anyone."

"I understand. You can date him, you know."

"Excuse me?"

"I won't be upset anymore. I don't want him to miss out on things because of me. I'm not an idiot. He's closed himself off on purpose." He laughed bitterly. "There's only one girl in the world who knows our darkest secrets and doesn't care and we're both in love with her."

"Clark, there might be others some day. Hell, maybe one day we'll find out exactly what you are and you'll find more of your own kind. I'm not the only girl who can feel for you."

"You're the only one I love," he countered. "I was drugged in Gotham."

"I know."

"I slept my way through dozens of blondes, trying to replace you."

She looked stricken but had no right to. She'd been the one to push him away. "What?"

"I slept around a lot, but no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I tried to let go to the red meteor rocks, I couldn't get you out of my thoughts. The Beast and I agree on one thing and that's that you're the one and I'll move on, I promise, but no one will ever be like you are to me and that's not your fault."

"I..."

"It's mine," he said, bending down to kiss her cheek, staying there a few seconds longer than he had to. "You can be with him because he deserves it. He's given up everything he ever wanted to protect me and himself. I just...be good to him."

"Clark-"

"Chlo, I have to go. I can't be noble and then argue sense into you, okay?"

"I..."

"You're saying that a lot. Look, I hate debate. I'll see you Monday at _The Monitor_."

"You can't."

"Well I think I might be a little rusty and we're in a weird place right now, but we can still be friends and we're a good mini-Woodward and Bernstein."

"No, I'm not allowed on staff. Your mom blacklisted me from that and getting DP or The Journal internships."

"For how long?"

"Forever," she said, opening the door. "But we'll always have lunch."

_Martha_

She woke up in the middle of the night to the feel of hot, fetid breath on her neck. She knew what she'd find before she even opened her eyes. Staring back at her, for the first time, were gleaming red eyes, like something out of Clive Barker or Stephen King.

She choked back instinctual fear and remembered to breath.

This was her son, her youngest and her baby.

She would not be afraid of him.

"Clark?"

Clark was growling low, menacingly, and she wondered if she was going to die here and now, if everything he'd said when he'd apologized was still masking his true feelings. She reached out toward him and blurred away, apparating on the other side of her bed. He flung a collection of newspapers onto her lap, and, looking down, Martha realized they were all pieces for _The Daily Planet_or _The Monitor_that had been written by Chloe Sullivan.

"I don't...I don't understand."

Clark growled again and Martha fought to keep herself from hyperventilating. It was her son; he'd never kill her.

Clark pointed to the papers and let out a low rumble, "Chloooeeeee."

"I...what about Chloe?"

He pointed again to the papers and she was left remembering what it was like trying to teach him English and how frustrated he'd get.

"Chloeeeee."

"You want me to un-blacklist her."

"Chloe!"

She looked between him and the papers. She hated that girl, hated her almost as much as she did Jonathan Kent, but both her sons couldn't leave her alone, would never be able to, she was realizing. Looking back at the jagged shark-like teeth erupting from Clark's jaw, she gulped.

"I'll call Pauline tomorrow."

The Beast nodded and one taloned hand carefully patted her head. "Mother."

Yes, mother.

Oh God what had she done?


	15. Chapter 15

_Chloe___

Chloe was shocked to see Martha Clark sitting in _The Monitor_office, her hand tremoring a little as she took a drag on her cigarette. Chloe wasn't supposed to be in this office at all. She'd only snuck in to see how her minions' layout skills were faring without her before free period started. How Martha Clark had known where and when to find her, Chloe didn't understand.

And she didn't really want to know.

"Ms. Clark?"

"Martha," she replied and her voice wasn't quite steady.

"I definitely don't understand. Is this a trick."

The other woman shook her head and snuffed out her cigarette. "I don't know if I do either. My boys love you."

"I know."

"You caused Clark no end of pain this summer."

"Believe me, I know."

"But he loves you so much, wants you to be happy. He told Davis over dinner last night that it was okay if you two dated."

"He talked to me about it yesterday, I was so shocked. To be honest, he's been trying to get me to date him for two years. I just...what he did was beyond noble and considerate."

Martha stilled and looked at the window. "Clark is my sweet boy. He's so kind and gentle. I remember the day I found him in the field in crystal clarity. He was more trusting than Davis, even then, more ready to have me sweep him up and place the blanket over him. I knew he was mine."

"Clark's your favorite, isn't he?"

She didn't answer for a long time, just kept staring off at something she could only see. "I love both my boys. I'd die for them. I've changed everything about my life for them and would do it no matter how many do overs I had. Do you understand?"

It didn't answer her question.

"I know. Martha, what's wrong?"

"Clark's a good boy."

"We established that."

"I love him."

"Definitely covered that. Martha, did The Beast visit? Is someone or something dead?"

At the mention of Clark's other half, Martha tensed. "He came to me."

"Clark?"

"The Beast, last night. He came. I'd never seen it before, what Clark is underneath the skin. He brought copies of _The Daily Planet_with him of all absurd things and your name was on every article he shoved in my face. He wanted you reinstated."

Chloe frowned. "The Beast can read?"

Martha shrugged and looked back at her. "Why not? Apparently The Beast is smarter than either of us thought or he's growing smarter every time Clark changes; I'm not sure which."

"And he wanted me to be back at _The Monitor_and off the DP blacklist? Doesn't The Beast have bigger priorities? Usually hunting?"

"Clark's in love with you, no matter his shape. I've lifted everything. In fact, I called Pauline Kahn this morning. You start your own column on the world through a teen's perspective-weekly mind-on Monday. She expects an introductory piece, first draft, by then."

"Excuse me? So I'm not only off the blacklist but now I've got my own column at sixteen. Martha, I'm really confused. You hate me. I know you hate me."

"I was wrong. The Beast loves you and I think it loves you more than it cares about me."

"I-"

"The Beast threatened me at first, growled and opened its mouth so wide and, God, there were so many teeth. I wasn't sure if he would let me live."

"Clark would never-"

"The Beast murdered Kyla," Martha pointed out. "We can't be sure what he's capable of. After I agreed to salvage your journalism career, he relaxed. I can't even tell when he's 'smiling' but I think he did that, patted my head and called me 'mother,' and fell asleep toward the foot of my bed like a mastiff."

"He threatened you?"

"Yes. My son...he..."

If Martha were any other person, Chloe would have hugged her but she waited for the other woman to regain her composure. She had known her for a long time. Martha Clark was never one to show weakness. After this conversation, she'd probably deny that she'd broken down this badly with Chloe at all.

So, Chloe looked away and ignore the way Martha's whole body shook.

"Clark wouldn't ever. He doesn't mean it. The Beast can't control what it does. We all know that."

"He brings you flowers. Clark and Davis were talking about it, I overheard them. The Beast responds to you in a way it's never responded to anyone and I don't know why except that Clark's truly, deeply in love with you and that may be imprinting, but even I don't believe that. The Beast cares too and that's a powerful thing, Chloe."

"I don't understand."

"You might be the only thing in the world that tempers it."

"Martha, I'm sure he wouldn't have touched you. He _didn't_touch you."

She took a deep breath. "I love my son."

"I know."

"But The Beast terrified me. I...what did I do?"

"Huh?"

"Did I take in something too dangerous? Am I a fool like those people who take in baby tigers and swear they'll never hurt them until they're mauled?"

"Martha, no. Clark would never."

"I'm not talking about my boy; I'm talking about The Beast. Until I agreed, Chloe, I _know_it wanted to kill me, wouldn't have hesitated if I had said no."

Screw boundaries. Chloe rushed over and hugged her around her shoulders. "No, he'd never. I don't care what form he's in, you're his favorite person in the world. He loves you more than he loves me. He knows you saved him-save him everyday even-and he'd never hurt you."

"I'm scared of him. Fourteen years, all the incidents, all the powers, the red meteor rocks. No matter what happened, he never scared me, but now I feel horrible. I love Clark but his other half terrifies me. What kind of a mother is that?"

"You're a good mother."

"How can I be when I hate half of what my son is, when I don't trust him not to take a human life? I'm supposed to be his mother, the one person who always believes in him and I close my eyes and see those damn teeth and I shake again."

"You'll recover. I was terrified after he ate Morris."

"I...what if I doomed us all?"

Chloe didn't have an answer for that.

_Clark_

His mom had been acting weird for a week.

First, she'd made a call not only to get Chloe back on _The Monitor_, but she'd also gotten Chloe her own column at _The Daily Planet_, making her the youngest columnist in paper history. Then, she'd insisted on having Chloe over for dinner at the estate and they were now on a first name basis. The first time Chloe had called her "Martha" and his mom had just smiled at it, Davis dropped the plate of mashed potatoes he'd been passing and grandfather had almost choked on water.

Suddenly his mom and Chloe were best friends.

And she was being brusque with him, not rude, but just always had a case load, always had to be running out for some reason, as few words as possible. She didn't seem like his mom at all. The Scotch on her breath even at noon wasn't helping either.

Finally, having had enough, Clark sped into her office in Metropolis. She'd not be able to claim she had to go into the city if she were already there. When he apparated in front of her, she screamed.

He hadn't startled her since he was eight.

"Mom, something's wrong. I think I deserve to know what it is."

"Nothing's wrong, baby, I just have a huge caseload this week and probably for the rest of the month."

Clark took a step forward and his heart sank when, eyes wide, she backed up three steps. "The Beast did something to you." He blurred over to her and didn't care if she flinched. He was checking her arms and her neck, trying to see if he'd bitten or scratched her.

She grabbed his hands and shook her head. "Sweetheart, you didn't. I promise you didn't."

"I didn't bite you?"

"No."

"What did I do?"

"Made a convincing case to rehire Chloe with papers and with a lot of teeth baring."

Clark closed his eyes. "Fuck, I threatened you. God, you could have been killed."

"I know and it did scare me, Clark. I can't live with myself. I love Clark Kent but now I'm actually scared of The Beast. I'm a terrible mother."

He was hugging her then, infinitely relieved, when she relaxed in his embrace. "I hate myself."

"Clark don't."

"I do," he whispered. "I hate my powers. I hate what I am. I hate what I did to Kyla and how I scared you. I hate that I'm the freak, moreso than Davis. I hate that I made you scared."

"I'll recover. I love you. I'd always love you."

"But no one can love The Beast," he finised, trying to keep his voice even. "I don't blame you. I kill. I roll in the blood. I'm a monster when I change and I know that."

She hugged him tighter. "Give me time to adjust, please. I'd never seen The Beast before and now that I have, I will do better." She leaned back and stroked his hair, "I love you more than my life, Clark. I never meant to hurt you."

"I never meant to shut down and you didn't. You threatened, but then you patted my head, called me 'mother,' and then you curled up to sleep at the foot of the bed. Once you got what you wanted, you were gentle. For what it's worth, even if you were mad at me, I think you cared."

"I cared about Kyla-"

"I know. This is _my_hang-up, sweetie. It's not yours. Do you get that?"

"If I were normal-"

She shook her head and stroked his cheek. "You're exceptional, sweetheart, don't ever forget that and one day you'll find a way to fit. You'll find someone like Chloe but who loves you back."

He felt his eyes water a little and tried to ignore it. "I'd just settle for The Beast not scaring you."

She smiled and kissed his forehead. "I promise, no matter what happens, no matter how much friction might come up between me and your other half, I'll try, Clark. I'll be here as long as I can and I'll always take care of you."

"It's not really fair."

"It's what I want."

He believed that she wanted that, but he wasn't sure they could ever get there. He wasn't sure that he couldn't keep The Beast from harming her and, for once, wondered if his fleeing to Gotham hadn't been a test run to save those he loved.

_Davis_

"The mope. Oh squirt, you can do better than a mope," he said, setting down his bag and undoing the top button of his oxford. Reaching into the fridge, he pulled out a beer. He'd had a few before his invulnerability kicked in. Although he'd never get a buzz from them again, he preferred one after a hard shift, if only from habit and to fit in when he went out with the other EMTs. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Is this a Chloe thing?"

"No, I meant it. You love her, she loves you, and you both deserve to be happy and not hampered by babysitting me from now until forever."

"Thank you," he replied, smiling a little. "That means so much to me."

"Well plenty of fish in the sea, you know? I'm sure I can find one just for me."

Davis noticed the way his borther's tone was too chipper. "You're good person, Clark."

"When I'm a person," he added, sighing. "Mom saw The Beast two weeks ago."

"She what? Is she okay?"

"That was my reaction. I checked her for bites or scratches. She said that I growled a little and wanted her to reinstate Chloe at _The Monitor_."

"Huh?"

"I brought some newspapers and pointed. I apparently _can_read which is interesting."

"Double huh."

"But then mom said I was really careful and patted her head and fell asleep. I just...it spooked her and I hate that. I never wanted to scare mom."

"Mom's tough, squirt. She'll recover." Although he had noticed that she'd been skittish for her last week, but she seemed much better now.

"Oh we talked about it and we're working on it, but I can't blame her. I mean, after Kyla, The Beast even scares me."

"Clark, the four of us roll with this as part of your package. You know this. If this happens to me too, mom and grandfather and Chloe will all deal with it too. Hell, we could go run together," he offered lamely.

"Somehow, not what I was looking forward to," he replied. "I just want to fit here. What if we got sent away from wherever we were for being monsters? What if it was so bad, whatever we are, that this was the good solution. Chief Joseph said-"

"Cave paintings don't dictate anything, especially if they are five hundred years old. You know this. You're doing better, but, frankly, I had an idea."

"An idea?"

"Clark, how much do you know about Warrior Angel?"

_Martha_

"Davis, you have to be kidding. Are you listening to yourself? Your brother can't go out patrolling the city. He's not...he's only sixteen!"

"He's invulnerable and incredibly fast. He wouldn't be alone. We'd go out together on nights when I'm not on third shift."

"You really are not listening to yourself, I've decided it for sure now," she said, pacing by the fireplace. "You two cannot go out and play superhero even if you have abilities. What if people started to notice you?"

"We're fast enough that they wouldn't."

"_You're_not," she pointed out.

"Fair point but a mask for me and dark clothes for both of us. Clark blurring in and out. It could work."

"We don't draw attention to ourselves in this family. We've never done this. Those are the rules."

Clark, who had been sitting down in the high backed leather chair his grandfather favored, uncrossed his legs and leaned forward in his seat. "Mom, the rules have to change. I have all this nervous energy. I have all this power and everything else. It forces itself out when I run, when I kill. I think this is best. I can use my strength and speed constructively. I can save lives. I _need_to do this. I need to be more than some dumb animal."

She winced. Her son was not that, would never be that, but she knew it was what he thought of himself. "Clark, no one-"

"I think it. I need to use my powers to help people if once every few months I'm going to be using them, whether I want to or not, to kill. I know it's just a deer or a rabbit, but I want to do something more than hide."

"If someone sees you? What do we do then? What if someone realizes you and Davis aren't human and you end up in Belle Reve or Arkham or with the military?" She sighed and leaned down to stroke his cheek. "Sweetheart, I can't live if they found you, if they hurt you for the good of 'science.' I really can't."

He nodded and held his hand to hers. So gentle, her boy. "I can't live the way I am, mom. I can't. I need to have something good about myself that is just not the school paper. I felt amazing saving Chloe and, yes, Kyla, even if it was a risk. I think this can help calm me too."

She nodded, considering his words. "You'll do this whether I consent or not, won't you?"

"I don't want to sneak around you, but I need this very much, mom. I'm wasting something amazing here and I'm letting The Beast dictate how we use our powers and I'm sick of that. I don't want to throw my abilities in your face but if I want to do this, you can't stop me, no."

"If someone finds a weakness for you...can you two even imagine what the military would do?" she asked, looking between her boys.

"Mom," Davis said, leaning against the mantle. "You've protected us for fourteen years. We don't have weaknesses. It's time for us to protect someone in exchange."

She sighed. "Alright. I have one condition."

"What?"

"You start small. Metropolis is a lot to ask for."

"Is it?" Clark asked.

"Yes, it is. It's a big city, lots of media. I want you to try Smallville first. If Chloe's theories are right and the town's been mutated, at least a significant portion of it, then it's a place that could use protection. You're not ready to be out there in the beginning, not in a city of 8 million. Smallville first, then we'll grow. You have time to learn."

Her oldest frowned, clearly thinking it over. "I think that's fair. Clark?"

He nodded. "Maybe I'm not ready for big city crime yet. I think Smallville might be a good way to start. I mean, even Warrior Angel had a beginning."

"You aren't going to call yourselves that?"

Davis shook his head and grinned. "Chloe helped name us."

Martha pursed her lips, trying to work hard to understand the other woman in her sons' lives. She knew her deepest secret now, that Martha finally had doubts creep in about if she'd done the right thing fourteen years ago. She'd never trade her sons for the world, but she wondered if that was extreme stupidity and selfishness, if she'd endangered the world in her blind love for her boys.

"What did she think of?"

Clark pointed at himself. "Since I'm so fast, she decided on 'The Blur.'"

"And what's Davis? The Lone Ranger?"

Her older boy grinned. "I'm The Ultimate. Pretty badass huh?"

"Oh boys, you have so much to learn."

She knew again, four weeks later, when the hot breath was on her cheek. She knew that The Beast had come, despite Clark and Davis's hopes that starting patrols would keep it from happening. Steeling herself, she sat up and looked back at fearsome red eyes. Her heart quickened and she reminded herself that this was the same boy she'd raised, the one she'd loved even in the cornfields of Smallville.

"Clark, baby, I...please don't hurt me."

The Beast quirked its head at her and she realized the expression was inquisitive, not cruel. "Motherrrrrrrr." It reached out one large talon to her chest. "Mineeeeee."

Remembering to breathe, Martha reached out and stroked his hand, careful around the talons and claws. "Mine back."

The Beast's maw opened and its tongue lolled out like a giant puppy of all things and it settled on the floor beside her bed. "Mine. Love."

Martha sighed and shook her head. She had brought this part home too. She had invited it in and now it and she were trying to find an accord. Reaching down, she patted his head. "I love you too, baby."

When the morning came and a dead rabbit was at the foot of her bed, still dripping blood, Martha took it in stride as she had everything else. Calling Cecille, she slipped the woman over a thousand dollars in cash and told her to prepare a stew for supper.

They would enjoy the gift her son had brought.

It was supportive of him, after all.


	16. Chapter 16

_Clark _

He turned around in the full length mirror in Chloe's father's room. Her dad was in Johannesburg with Lionel and would be for two more weeks. Clark sometimes wondered if Chloe ever saw her father. In her own way, she'd been as lonely as he had been until they'd met and, he was finally realizing, her glomming onto his family had as much to do with her absentee father as it did with the pet project she'd found in trying to help him with The Beast.

"I don't know about this, Chlo," he said, adjusting the plain black bandanna over his face. It made him look a lot like Zorro, it even even covered his hair and tied in the back. Chloe had rudimentary sewing skills from eighth grade home ec and she'd made it for him.

How keen.

"Well you've been late. You promised your mom almost four weeks ago that you'd be covering your face when you went on patrol, even if you blur very fast. It keeps you safe."

"So I guess using heat vision is gonna be out. This will catch on fire so fast!"

She sighed. "I did think of that, but maybe just some strength and speed to start? We can figure out a better mask later but maybe heat vision can be sort of ignored for a while?"

He nodded and looked over the rest of his ensemble. It was incredibly plain, just a black t-shirt and black jeans. He was going for trying to be as incognito as he could be. He just didn't want to gather the attention of anyone who'd lock him up. While he wanted to do this, he wanted to do this the smart way.

He turned and looked to his brother, who was dressed identically, save his mask had more of a Lone Ranger/masquerade ball flare to it. It was sort of slumming it as costumes went but, then again, tights would have been the dumbest things on Earth to wear.

"What do you think?"

"Well besides resembling cat burglars," his brother conceded. "It's pretty smart. I mean, as indistinguishable as possible. This is a step up in the 'friendly department.'" I think it's better and less threatening than ski masks."

Clark frowned at that and turned around again. "I still think I look weird. Hmmm, hey Chlo?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you add a cape?"

She burst out laughing. "You're not serious!"

"I think it could be nice!"

Davis rolled his eyes. "If you want something with flare, get a duster or something. I really think a cape might...well it's a little theatrical, squirt, and impractical. I mean tripping over it much in superspeed?"

"True, okay, but can I think on it? Like can I reserve the right to have a cape later?"

Chloe giggled. "I promise if you really want the cape, I'll see what I can stitch together on the sly but I think that look for superheroes is a little dated and you'll look totally ridiculous!"

He shrugged. "Better than the Martix look."

"Point taken, squirt," his brother replied. "Just sleep on it. I think you won't like the superhero gig as much if the people who do catch a glimpse laugh their asses off at you."

"But capes are so swishy! Warrior Angel has one!"

Chloe patted his shoulder. "Like I said, try the mask thing first and we'll work you up to more accessories if you really want them."

"But-"

Davis sighed and adjusted his trench coat. Yup so Neo. "You'll thank us later when you're not a laughing stock."

Right and it wasn't still 1998.

Damn, he really wanted to try the cape.

Two days later, Clark was in a less bouncy mood. The minute he sat down for dinner and his mom admitted they were having rabbit stew, he blanched. Playing with his napkin, he looked to his mother and asked the obvious question:

"Did I hunt?"

She nodded. "You brought me a rabbit. I thought we'd make use of it."

Grandfather shot her a look but remained quietly neutral on the subject.

Davis, being the supportive older brother, nodded too, like one of those bobble heads. "Well, it's one way to think about it. If you're bringing in fresh game, might as well eat it. I mean, when people hunt they traditionally use what they've killed. Maybe you wouldn't feel as bad if the deer or rabbits or whatever didn't go to complete waste."

He sighed and pushed himself away from the table. "No, I won't. I can't eat that, knowing The Beast caught it. I appreciate, mom, that you're really trying but even thinking about the stew makes me think about being red eyed and terrifying and I just can't deal with that."

With that he headed up to his room. It took Davis about five minutes total to follow him up for the patented big brother talk.

"Hey squirt, mom's really trying. She's really evolved from where she started with being afraid of The Beast. She told me earlier today that you did with her what you tend to do with Chloe and slept at the foot of the bed. She even fell asleep with you there, trusting you not to hurt her. I'm with her and Chloe, I think you're making progress and your other half is learning very, very quickly."

"Great! Maybe I can recite my ABCs sometime," he snarked. "Davis, you know how hard this is, don't you?"

His brother shifted a little from foot to foot, full of nervous energy himself. "Did Chloe tell you about my dreams?"

Clark shook his head. "She didn't have to. I see you look like shit half the time, dark circles and bloodshot eyes. Mom and Grandfather assume it's the 3rd shift and that you're working too hard when you have the late nights, but I don't believe that. I know that look cause I saw it in the mirror a lot after Kyla. You're dreaming."

Davis sat down at his desk. "Maybe I am. You've always had trouble sleeping, maybe it's my turn."

"I remember, you know. There's something at the back of my mind from _before _."

"Before what?"

"Before we left wherever we were from. I...something was so wrong. The sky was choked with smoke, the whole place felt like it was burning. I don't even know what was going on but it was bad before they sent us away. That's always part of my nightmares as a kid-first the smoke, then being trapped in the dark."

"Our ship."

He nodded and clutched at his red blanket. "I wonder why you don't even have vague memories. You're older."

"Maybe trauma, maybe repressed memories. I think it's really hard to tell. I know we're different. Sometimes I wish we weren't so we'd both go through this at the same pace."

"But sometimes you hope you don't change enough to be like me, right?"

"Can I plead the fifth?"

Clark laughed a little. "I don't want to be like me either. Don't feel guilty because you don't really want to be spiky and hunt deer in your spare time, okay? I know that's not something anyone would want to sign up for, I promise."

"When I dream, I do _want _to be like you."

"I don't understand."

"I...I dream of tearing throats out, so far deer or maybe a horse, and I roll in the blood, bathe myself all over in it and I _love _it. I've been having dreams like that for months. It's...Chloe and I were talking about it when you found us last summer. That's why I finally let my guard down around her and let her overwhelm me. I know I'm changing too-strength, invulnerability, the hunger and bloodlust. It's a different order than yours, I know that and slower, but it's happening and I'm really scared."

"You could have told me. I mean, not when I was off in Gotham, but I've been back for two months. I know what you're feeling."

"Do you dream of blood too? Does it leave you breathless and content?"

No he had never had dreams like that. All that plagued him was the dark, but he had to like hunting an awful lot since he kept bringing offerings to his mom and to Chloe.

"No, I've never had a dream like that, but clearly other-me loves to hunt. I wish I could say that if you do change like me that it's not so bad, I really do. For what it's worth I can never feel the change and it doesn't hurt physically."

"It's just emotionally draining."

"Totally, I just...I can't wake up covered in blood or with a dead fucking yearling in our room and not feel like such a freak. I can't stop being afraid that one day I'll graduate to humans. It's really hard, and I didn't root for you or anything to join the club."

Davis nodded but didn't say anything else for a long time. "I wouldn't have been The Beast in your place, I thought once, traded my normalcy for you to stop hurting. I thought I meant it but I'm terrified too. I can't imagine running wild like that but the blood..."

Clark shivered recognizing that lust in his other half. "I know. At least we're together in this mess. If I were all alone, just stranded on Earth without anyone even close to like me, I don't think I would have made it. I don't think I'd have gotten this far at all without you. You're the best brother I could have gotten."

"Same for you squirt. I worry though."

"Naturally, becoming Mr. Hyde is not a fun thing."

"No, I mean that this sounds so animal, so-"

"_ Alien? _," Clark supplied, knowing full well what it was to have instincts he couldn't control or explain away.

"Yeah or like Discover Channel. I wonder if two of us, two beasts full grown...I don't want to change and have us tear each other apart over territory or something weird. That's really scaring me, that we'll fight and only one of us comes out intact."

Clark shook his head. "Well I doubt that could happen, right? We're invulnerable."

"Not to each other. I made you bleed, Clark. If we both went out it fist and spikes, I honestly don't know what would happen."

"Or maybe we'd be a small pack and get along. The Beast likes Chloe and mom; it gives them presents. Maybe we'd get along no matter what we are at the time. I want to believe that."

"Me too, but if something ever happens and I'm endangering you, I won't stay."

"I could leave-"

"Mom needs you more. I know you're her favorite."

"Of course I'm not. Mom doesn't have a favorite."

Davis sighed and stood up. "Of course she does, squirt, and if you ever left, it would kill her. Besides, don't feel badly about it. I feel the same way and always have, if it's a choice between you being happy and me, I'd pick you."

"Well then we match because it hurts, believe me, but you and Chloe both seem so happy together and watching you two be happy, it really pleases me. I want you to have something too after giving up college to help me. She's really amazing Davis and you're incredibly lucky because she loves you. And because, you know-"

"She can stand what we really are, I know. Squirt, there has to be another girl like Chloe out there. One day you won't end up alone."

Clark nodded and gripped his blanket more tightly. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

_Davis _

"You know, I really enjoy this," he said, as Chloe leaned against him. They were watching a movie, some chick flick that Chloe had picked out. In return, he was going to introduce her to _The Terminator _, and, yes, he'd been very appalled she'd never seen that classic.

She smiled and kissed him, letting herself linger for a while over him. "Definitely. I wish we'd done this sooner but it does feel less skeevy in general since I just turned seventeen. Fourteen would have been far too young for this."

"And Clark," he said, threading his fingers through hers, eyeing the modest ring he'd given her. It was silver and had a series of Celtic knots adorning it. She'd loved it and hadn't taken it off in the two weeks since her party. Clark had gone in for a matching necklace that she'd enjoyed too but wore less frequently. The Beast brought her a second planter, this time of roses, the night after her celebration.

Clark had been sort of embarrassed by that for a week afterwards.

Idly, Davis wondered what it would be like if he changed too, if both of them, all spiked out, would bring her offerings like that, if they'd compete for the best flowers or freshly killed meat. It was not something other guys had to consider.

Chloe sighed and kissed him again. "And Clark. He's really...I wish I could fix him up with someone. I wish there was a way to know for sure if a girl out there could-"

"Be like you?"

"I don't think I'm that original. Clark's a wonderful person, but he just comes with a hiccup."

"A red-eyed one," Davis conceded. "Chloe, I don't know if anyone can really love The Beast."

"Wait til you get flowers from him," she chided. "But what is that? You're always so supportive of him. I'm not in love with The Beast because I'm not in love with Clark, but it's always been considerate of me in a weird way. It's not as monstrous as one would think."

Davis swallowed and continued with his thoughts. "I'm changing."

She sat up and studied him then. "You've shifted?"

"No, but the dreams are every night now. I don't know why I have them. I talked to Clark and he never has; he just dreams about being trapped in our ship. The blood lust is building, Chloe, and it's going to start looking for a way to bust out. I can _feel _it. I...if you left me when I finally change, I'd understand."

She gaped at him. "Are you kidding me? Why would you think I'd do that. I've stuck by Clark and his other half, I'd always stick by you too. Spikes and red eyes are intimidating at first, yes, and I know what happened to Kyla, honestly I do, but I love you, Davis. If you're coming with something extra to the package, then that's okay, you know that?"

He laughed. "God we're so lucky to have you."

"And one day Clark will be lucky too. Somewhere out there is someone else who can accept him for what he is, all of it, I just know it."

Ugh.

Magnetism.

What a complete pain in the ass that whole experience had been. It wasn't that he was vulnerable, of course he wasn't know. It had just been an massive annoyance to have everything from refrigerators to cars at the old junk yard tossed at him. Clark too hadn't been thrilled. It wasn't that it hurt, but it was a pain in the ass throwing that stuff aside to try and pursue the meteor freak who'd been perpetrating everything.

Sighing, Davis shed his trench and took off his mask, as well as undid his boots. They were caked with mud from the salvage yard they'd fought in. It had been a long, annoying night.

Clark had already blurred upstairs and he could hear the shower running above him. He was a little surprised to see his mother still up at 1 a.m. when she had court in the morning in the city. She was reading over her case file but set him down when he entered into the grand foyer.

"Mom?"

"Hello, dear."

He frowned and sat down in the armchair nearest hers. "Hard case or waiting up?"

She sighed. "Both. I can't sleep when you're patrolling, at least not very well. I always am afraid that someone will notice."

Davis shrugged and pointed to where his mask lay. "They can't see my face or Clark's. We've made sure of that. We don't have weaknesses. Mom, we've been over this so many times since we started two months ago. We can handle this."

"I know. Maybe I'm just not ready for my boys to be so grown up."

Davis nodded and leaned over to kiss her forehead. "Mom, we're making this work. I'm not...it won't stop his Beast from coming out and, if I get further along in my changes, it won't stop mine, but this? This feels so right. I always wanted to help people and I can. Clark has felt better about his powers than he ever has. This is working fine."

"Two months is a start, and it's a trial. Don't get complacent, things always change, Davis."

_Clark _

He was screwed.

He was so fucking screwed. He didn't even know how this had happened. He'd been riding the elevator to his mom's office, just a casual day to go with her to lunch, and the elevator cable had snapped. It was just him and a blonde girl and as they'd started plummeting faster, he'd done the only thing he could do, knowing the other passenger wasn't invulnerable and didn't deserve to die to save his secret.

But now that left him supporting a whole elevator with one hand, as they were stuck on the second floor and the fire department was scrambling to open it. Irrationally, Clark wished he was in Davis's district, but even if his brother were on the scene with the firefighters, there would have been nothing anyone could have done to hide this mess.

"I...I can explain," Clark fumbled. "There's completely a logical explanation for this."

The girl looked back at him with large doe eyes. "No, I know. You've been near the meteor rocks. You were in the shower somehow."

He blinked. People in Metropolis didn't know about that. Hell, even if people in Smallville knew, they didn't talk about it. "I don't understand."

"Then watch," she said, grabbing his shoulder. There was a bright green light and before Clark could begin to understand it, they were standing in the back alley behind the building.

"Wow, that's...why would you do that for me?"

She giggled and held out her hand. "Alica Baker and you are?"

Clark hesitated. This was probably a bad idea but she'd just exposed herself to save his own secret. Taking her hand, he did as a year of cotillion in ninth grade had taught him, and kissed the back of her hand. "Clark Kent."

"Well, Clark Kent, it looks like we both have our secrets. I saved you because if you didn't have incredible strength, I'd be dead. I assume if we hadn't teleported the hell out of there, you'd be a candidate for Belle Reve or somewhere worse."

Clark blinked. "You know about Belle Reve too. My friend's been doing research on that place for over two years. She says nothing good goes on there."

"Classmates definitely relocated there. Never a good idea to show off abilities, unless it's a near death situation. I was here visiting my cousin who works for a Lehman and Klein, the brokers?"

"Heard of them, yeah."

"I need to get back up there before it looks suspicious, although, if that elevator had a camera, we're really screwed."

Clark paled; he'd not considered that. Pulling out his cell, he dialed his mother's number. "Leave that to me." As he waited for his mom's secretary to patch him through, he frowned down at her. "This might sound really stupid but would you like to go on a date with me? I mean, it's okay if not, but I figure if we saved each other's lives and secrets, we might as well get to know each other a little."

She nodded, "You've obviously been to Smallville before. Do you know The Talon?"

"Uh, the coffee shop?" He and Davis had stopped an employee there who was a fire starter. They'd helped with remodeling a bit, even if inadvertently.

"Yup, how about tomorrow at noon," she said, kissing his cheek and disappearing in a green mist.

Wow, he did meet the most interesting girls.

_Martha _

Her son was an idiot. She was finally convinced of it. He was some savant who had not one lick of common sense in his head the minute a pretty girl waltzed into his life. Chloe. Kyla, and now some girl named Alicia. He just couldn't turn off his knight in shining armor complex.

It was going to ruin him.

It was why she brought him up to her office after she'd called in a favor from security-the day guard was nursing a crush on her-and had him crush the tape in front of her and then burn it to melted plastic in her trash can. Evidence was always important to dispose of after all.

"Clark Kent, what the hell were you thinking?"

"She was gonna die, mom. What was I supposed to do? It's not right to let that happen."

"Sometimes protecting yourself is more important than someone's life."

"I don't believe that."

"I don't care what you believe. This is foolish. Chloe and Kyla were liabilities."

"Chloe's not! You two are getting along so much better."

Martha sighed and poured herself some Scotch. It helped steady her nerves. It shouldn't matter it was only noon. "We are, but she still caused you to run to Gotham for two months. Kyla..."

"I was the liability to her. She died because of me."

She shook her head, still surprised by his naivete. "She was a killer, Clark. She went out to hunt humans deliberately, knowing better because she didn't black out as the wolf. She was far from the right one for you."

"So because Chloe had mixed up feelings for me and Davis and Kyla turned out to be dangerous, what? I can't even go to The Talon for coffee with another girl?"

"First, you don't know anything about her."

"She saved my secret. I'd be in a lab right now if anyone had come in on me holding up a fucking elevator one handed."

She took a long sip. "Don't swear at me."

"Sorry," he said, ducking his head a little. "But she risked her own freedom for mine. I can't help but think that's a good sign."

"She's legitimately meteor infected, isn't she?"

"Uh, yeah," Clark replied honestly. "I assume that's where her power comes from. She even does this green misty thing when she teleports and it is very much like the green rocks in color. Why?"

"They're not stable. You know this. The meteor infected go crazy. You deal with them on a weekly basis at least in Smallville. What if you sidling up to someone who's insane or who will hurt you?"

"I-"

"Kyla claimed she changed because of the rocks too and she was a murderer. What makes this different?"

"She saved me back, mom, and that means a lot to me."

Martha sighed, "Please drop this, Clark. We'll handle this the way we should have handled at least Kyla. Pay her off and then threaten to ruin her college chances if we ever have trouble from her again. The old way used to work."

"I don't want to have her go away. Davis has Chloe. What if someone with powers...she's like me."

"No one's exactly like you and you know that, not even Davis yet. If Kyla was any indication, people with meteor powers shouldn't be dated. You shouldn't just cling to her because she's different. She might not be like other people, but she's assuredly not like you either and you know nothing about her but her name and her ability."

"I want to try mom. I'm not gonna start a first date with 'Oh by the way, I turn into a monster, what about you?'"

She shook her head and reached patted his head. "Baby, you're not."

"Oh I understand that I am. I just...maybe I can ease her into it? She has to understand what it's like to have a power you didn't even ask for. She doesn't shift like Kyla but she is different. I can't be alone forever, can I? There's this side of me that will probably always lie down at Chloe's feet like a dog, will always bring her presents, but the Clark Kent side...I deserve more than to always hide and be alone. I have to try."

"Alright, but let me go on record saying that nothing good can come from a Smallville meteor mutant."

She'd felt like maybe she'd been marginally too hard on Clark the afternoon before. It was possible Alicia would be stable in a way Kyla was not. Even Chloe's research indicated that psychosis was only in about eighty percent of the Smallville mutants. Maybe her boy had found a lucky case. It was possible. She knew he was lonely, knew that it had intensified since he'd let Chloe go. It was right for her boy to have a chance, she knew this.

She just hoped they didn't live to regret it.

When she opened the door to his room to wake him and to inform him pancakes were ready, she gasped and desperately wished Davis weren't on the late shift until 8 a.m. He could have corroborated if she were hallucinating. Her youngest was floating.

As in defying gravity, at least five feet above his bed.

"Clark, baby?"

Clark rolled over in mid-air and yawned. "Mom come on five more minutes it's a Saturday."

"Clark, I...you need to open your eyes very, very slowly and stay calm."

He tried to sit up with a start and shouted in surprise as he crashed to his bed, shattering the slats and making the mattress fall to the floor with a resounding thud. "What the Hell just happened?"

"You were floating," she said, and, somehow, despite The Beast side of him or the heat vision, it was the most shocking thing she'd see him do. Amazing yes, but surreal.

"No that's not possible. I...gravity!"

"Apparently, sweetheart, it doesn't apply to you anymore," and she even realized the note of pride creeping into her voice was odd. He wasn't going to like what was happening to him; he never did. But damn if it wasn't an awe-inspiring sight.

"That's really a new one, huh? Should I...do you think I need to cancel my date?"

"Are you grounded now?"

He nodded. "I have no idea what that was. I was dreaming and then the next thing I know you wake me up and crash. I don't think it's really a conscious thing yet. Lord knows that I don't know how to turn it on and off."

She considered that. "Try the date, sweetheart, then come back here as soon as possible and we'll work on practicing as soon as we can. We mastered everything else."

"You're sure? What is with the 180 from yesterday?"

She sighed and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Davis has always said I cling too hard, that protecting and smothering you would make what I love most about you snuff out. I don't want you to feel like you're almost a prisoner here with no choices. I just...be careful, baby."

"I will and if anything weirder than this morning happens, I'll be in a blur. Hmm."

"Hmm what?"

"Do you think Chloe will make me a cape now?" he said, blurring to the bathroom to start his shower.

She didn't have an answer for that; she hardly had an answer for anything these days.


	17. Chapter 17

_Davis _

"Huh?"

His mom sighed and pointed to his brother's bed, her finger angled high above it. "I am talking about five feet, at least, above his mattress. If I hadn't woken him up, he could have stayed like that for much longer. I assume he slept that way all night. I can't prove that because we have no witnesses since you were on call, but I've never seen anything like it."

Davis was trying to process this, really he was, but he was still stuck on the idea of his brother just hovering anywhere like a Macy's Parade balloon. Clark was a big guy now after all, much bigger than Davis. Of course even if he'd been a ninety-eight pound weakling, people didn't float. Even weird shifting space aliens weren't supposed to float. It was insane and it defied every law of physics out there.

"He floated?"

"That's what I said, and then he crashed," she finished, gesturing to the mess that had once been Clark's bed frame. "Don't ask me how he does it. He just did."

Davis sighed. That was definitely a new one, and actually one that was pretty cool, especially compared to being red-eyed, spikey, and like a raw rabbit every now and then. "So we can, uh, float?"

"Well, Clark can. We never know how you'll develop," his mother said thoughtfully. I just...it was amazing."

Davis smiled a little at the pride in his mother's voice. He was glad she and Clark had come to an accord and patched things up. "I am having a really hard time wrapping my head around what that even looks like. I mean spikey monster, heat vision, even the speed I sort of get. I can't imagine the squirt floating."

His mother shrugged. "I have no idea. I promised him we'd practice when he got back, although how we can find his trigger, I don't know."

Davis blushed. "We did find it with the heat vision. I wonder, no offense, if this is hormonally related as well. With the heat vision, it's clear dancing with Chloe triggered it in addition to a normal guy response."

His mother nodded. "I'd suspected as much when he was too shy to explain it to me."

"Yeah, so now he meets this other girl he's really crazy about and he's floating." Davis grinned broadly. "Maybe Alicia's his happy thought."

"Like Peter Pan?" his mother asked drolly.

"Maybe. It makes as much sense as anything else. Everything we do is pretty psychosomatic even The Beast is driven by blood lust and a need to hunt that can't be shut off forever. Clearly, so far, Clark liking girls comes with some interesting and serious complications. It's pretty different," he finished, floundering for the right adjective to describe the floating without insulting his brother.

"It's off the beaten path, I grant, but safer, I'd think than super strength, heat vision, or shape shifting into The Beast."

"True, but no less obvious if he can't control it publicly. Do you think he can keep it together for a couple hours in Smallvile?" he asked, truly baffled that she'd let his brother go at all after this morning. It wasn't as if she'd been thrilled that he'd fallen for Alicia so fast and exposed his secret.

"I'm trying to trust him more. You're still right. I can't choke him forever. He was very, very honest about that on red meteor rock. I don't want to hold him back or keep him so isolated that he's miserable. He's almost seventeen and I just have to trust he can control his own abilities and make solid decisions. Besides, with his abilities, he could have been to Smallville in a blink from his bedroom."

"Sneaking out so you wouldn't notice?"

"He's done it before," she conceded. "I just want to have faith."

_Clark _

She really was pretty.

It wasn't just the nice clothes she wore, something preppy and like an L.L. Bean catalogue. It wasn't even the way her wide, brown eyes stared back at him or her cascading blonde hair. It was everything from her laugh to her broad smile. She was just so amazing.

"So," she said, sitting down with her espresso. "One of us then?"

Clark sighed, wanting to be honest with her, in order to one day brace her for his other half. "Actually no. I grew into my abilities, but I was born this way."

She frowned and sipped her coffee. "Huh."

"Huh what?"

She shrugged. "I hadn't met anyone just born with powers. That's a little different."

"Maybe," he conceded. "I just know that the meteor rocks didn't make me who I am."

"And you said abilities, as in plural? Even more interesting."

He blushed. "A few things, more strength obviously so my muscles are stronger, which means I can run faster too, just more energy and resilience in my legs."

"That makes a lot of sense, to be honest, obviously you're invulnerable too or the friction from what you did would have destroyed the skin on your hand but it didn't."

"Observant, aren't you?"

"Scientist," she replied. "I'm the president of the physics club at Smallville High. I guess I always figured that if I understood the physics behind my ability, it would just make more sense to me, make me feel more-"

"Normal?" he asked taking her left hand in his. "This is okay right?"

"Definitely. I just like to know answers, pay attention to what's right in front of me."

"I used to feel that way about astronomy."

"What happened?"

"It wasn't fun after a while. So," he said, segueing a bit. "What do you see about me?"

She arched an eyebrow at him and giggled. He really liked that sound. "I see a lot of things. You're brave, obviously, and selfless, but you're scared a lot too. I'm not gonna rat you out or you'd rat me out."

"I wouldn't."

"Mutually assured destruction," she said glumly. "Comes with the territory. I think you're a hero, Clark, and that's pretty damn rare. Oh, by the way, have you ever been ice skating?"

He was sure he would have been one big bruise basically unable to breathe had he been human. He spent almost the entire time, when he wasn't clinging to the side railing, falling on his ass on the ice. It tended to do more damage to the ice, of course, which he was eager to try lying about to whoever glanced at him funny. It was just not a fun experience.

Driving Alicia home in his car was better.

Much better.

He'd never made out with a girl before. He'd fucked them. Spent time doing all sort of filthy things with his tongue in certain areas. Done positions that should have been possible, but not kissing. It was too intimate and loving, not right for a nameless parade of women he didn't know. Fucking was definitely one thing, but sweet tenderness like with Alicia? No, he'd never felt that before, not once in Gotham.

Kissing her felt so right. She was small and and soft, and everything touch of her lips felt heavenly. Clark felt his eyes itch with the building sensation of heat vision but forced himself to calm as Davis had taught him, reciting the Wolverines' statistics over and over in his head.

Then Alicia grabbed something that had never been grabbed before and his arm reached out too fast, punching through the window on the driver's side. She stopped and blinked back at him. Embarrassed, he looked away.

"I'm sorry."

"It was your car," she pointed out.

"Uh, yeah. I guess they don't make Mercedes like they used too."

She laughed. "Or glass. Clark, it's okay. Like I said, we're both definitely weird. If you weren't so strong, I'd be pizza, okay?"

"I guess but-"

She started kissing him again and he forgot all about being embarrassed.

_Martha _

There was a girl in Clark's bed.

A half naked girl in barely there bra and lacy panties, and her son was happily making out with her. She had never anticipated anything like this. It was his first date for one thing. For another, how did Alicia even know where they lived, let alone get past security? Well there was teleporting true, but was Clark really dumb enough to give out his address to a girl he barely knew?

One who apparently could travel almost 180 miles away in an instant, clearly even faster than her son.

"Ahem," she coughed.

Clark dropped Alicia to the floor as if he'd been scalded. For her part, the girl was smirking up at her. "Ms. Clark, nice to meet you."

"The feeling is most definitely ****not ****mutual. I don't know how you do your thing, but it would be best if you disappeared, now. I have a lot to discuss with my son and thank god your grandfather is away on business. This would give him a heart attack."

"But mom!" he objected. "I...it's not exactly what it looks like."

"There's a girl in your bed and you were both very close to having sex tonight. What else is it supposed to look like?"

"Well, okay, yeah, but you don't exactly understand-" he floundered.

"Alicia, you have until the count of three before I call security. If I get there, I promise you that I will also go after your family."

She blinked. "What?"

"Don't test me. One, two..."

With that, the girl was simply gone in a puff of almost green smoke. It was new to Martha, but not the weirdest thing she'd seen by far.

"So, Clark, would you like to try explaining this?"

"Mom! I'm just in my boxers," he groused, grabbing his red blanket."

"Oh I get that. What were you thinking inviting her back here?"

"I didn't! She just showed up in my bed and it was, well, I'm sixteen and not a monk and it was too much."

"I expect more from you. This is not how we behave."

Clark sighed. "It's not like I haven't had sex before."

She nodded. "I suspected as much from what your brother said this fall when you returned. Just because you had sex with a parade of women-"

Clark did at least have the decency to blush at that. Good. Her boy should have. "Mom, I know."

"No you don't. We have rules in this house and you're not supposed to do certain things. About to have sex with a girl you met yesterday at 3 a.m. is one of those rules."

"Is this a you don't think I'm normal enough to want to have sex thing?"

"Don't even try going for an excuse because you're not from around here. I had the same rule for Davis in high school. We just do not do this, especially with some random girl."

"She's not random! She saved my secret. She's like me."

"Then why did she just sneak into your bedroom at night? That's unhealthy, Clark. It's like a stalker."

"That's ridiculous. We just had a really good time tonight and I guess she wanted more. I'm a guy; it's not like I don't have my weaknesses and I wasn't gonna fold."

She shook her head. That simply wasn't good enough. "You're lonely. I understand that, but it doesn't mean you throw yourself at any girl with abilities you can find. It's not smart."

Clark shook his head and, when he spoke, it was barely a whisper. "No mom, you can't understand how lonely I am. I'm one in six billion people and even my brother's more normal and has someone to love him. I turn into this fucking thing and hunt deer and bathe in blood. I live in terror someone will find out and cut me into tiny pieces, so no, you can't possibly understand how amazing it is to have someone who makes me feel normal and special at the same time. You just can't."

That hurt but the rules were still the rules. "You're grounded, and you can't see her again."

He stood up then and shook his head. "You can't really stop us and you know it. Both of us can be anywhere we want in a blink."

"I raised you better than that, Clark. Don't persist in this or I will find a way to punish you that will stick, starting with yanking you out of high school. Don't press me."

"You wouldn't!"

"I would. Now, good night."

_Chloe _

"She what?" she whispered in the far study carol in the library, the one that Clark favored for a mope.

"She said that I couldn't stay here if I saw Alicia again, which is sort of dumb because Alicia goes to Smallville High three hours away, you know?"

"I get your mom was upset. If dad ever caught me like that, I'd be grounded until I was thirty. I don't understand though how she could even threaten to take this away from you. You love it here. You have friends besides me now on the mock trial team. That's so mean."

"I get that I broke the rules, and that I'm seriously considering doing it again, but why would she do this to me? I had one close to normal thing in my life and now I can't even have that."

Chloe sighed and patted his shoulder. "Maybe I can talk to Martha. Women solidarity or whatever. Grounding you should be sufficient if you actually stay put."

He blushed and she knew that was part of it. "Okay so I might have said she couldn't keep me at the estate if I didn't want to."

She shook her head. "Clark, did you ever think that your mom wasn't someone you wanted to piss off?"

"Yeah, it definitely occurs to me now. Can you help me?"

Grabbing her backpack she turned to head out. It was almost lunch time and she was famished. "I'll see what I can do, but I don't have a lot of space to stand on if you're threatening to like run away with her. That was a push back, Clark."

"I know...just please, Chlo?"

"Alright, but I can't promise anything. Martha's beyond stubborn."

"I won't pull him if he listens to me, but if he runs off with that girl, then he's done it to himself," Martha objected, leaning back at her desk at her office in the city. Chloe had gone there directly at free period, grateful juniors and seniors had passes to go off campus during lunch and free time.

"That's not a punishment. It's a threat and you'll separate him from the people he knows through clubs and classes. He'll never be as popular as Davis, but he's making friends outside of me and that's really great for him."

"Then he just has to listen. Alicia is dangerous and I don't like her. It's bizarre what she did and not very stable to sneak into someone's house half dressed when you barely know them. I know she's not thinking clearly, probably because she's a mutant."

"I get that, and I think it borders on creepy and sexual harassment, believe me I do. But going all Capulet or something similar on Clark is going to drive him and Alicia closer together because it's forbidden. You have to see that, Martha."

"Did you and Davis get together because it was taboo and not allowed?"

She shook her head. "No, we didn't, but I know that can be a temptation. I know that Clark has a rebellious streak that pushes him to do things like his red meteor rock summer. I don't trust Alicia any farther than I can throw her, but making her banned? He's just gonna want her more."

"I don't want him hurt by someone unstable like Kyla was. He just doesn't understand that powers don't make him compatible with any girl to come along."

Chloe sighed and stifled her urge to path Martha's hand. "Clark wants to fit in worse than anyone I've ever seen, even Davis. Let him learn that powers aren't everything. Alicia, well, she could still turn out to be a decent person. If she doesn't, people break up all the time and learn to move on. If she keeps up with creepy stalker routine, then we'll just go from there."

"I hope you're right, Chloe. I don't want to make him have the opposite reaction and run to her. That's what happened when daddy said no about Jonathan. I get that instinct and it was the biggest mistake of my life. I hope he can see this girl for what she really is and soon."

"Me too."

_Davis _

"God, Clark don't move her."

"I have to move her! We need to get mom to the hospital. She could be dying. Jesus, how did she even fall down the cellar steps? What was she doing all the way down here. It's just storage."

"How did the door get locked from the inside is the bigger question," Davis pointed out, holding his mom's hand and gently stroking her hair. "I called the emergency service before I even called for you. We have to let her lie here until the come. You could superspeed her sure, but the thing is, we don't know if her vertebrae are snapped or how badly they are. Even moving her slightly could kill her or leave her permanently paralyzed, do you understand that?"

"She's barely breathing. I can't just watch!"

"If you paralyze her, it will be so much worse. I promise you," Davis said, taking her pulse. It was beyond slow. It was beginning to be erratic as Hell. "Mom, come on, hold on."

He'd never been more relieved to see his compatriots in blue than when the EMTs for his district showed up and placed their mother gently on the board they'd brought.

"Mark, man, take good care of her," he begged, working hard to stay calm for his brother's sake. They couldn't lose her. She was their protector and the person who loved them most.

"Hey, how you feeling?" Davis asked, as his mother blinked up at him. She was on a morphine drip and antibiotics. In her fall she'd scraped the skin off her leg pretty badly and who knew what type of infections she could contract in a moldy basement. Even after the surgeon had stitched it back together, it was better to be safe than sorry with the augmentin. The morphine was for her three broken ribs and her shattered collar bone.

Considering how steep the stairs were and that they were concrete, she'd been incredibly lucky she'd not died of a broken neck.

"Where's your brother?"

"He's picking grandfather up from the airport. He'll be here soon."

"But he's not in the building?"

"No, why did you say that?"

"Because I don't want him to overhear this yet."

"I don't understand."

"It was Alicia. I was in the kitchen and I heard some noises coming from the cellar. I thought we had a some kind of animal maybe, like a fox or raccoon that'd gotten in. She was hiding in the shadows at the top step and by the time I realized what was going on, she told me to leave her and Clark alone and pushed me as hard as she could. I...she locked the room behind me, I guess hoping I couldn't be found in time, and disappeared."

Davis took measured, even breaths. God his brother had a genius for find bunny boiling Glenn Close wannabes. "Jesus, I looked back over those steps. I can't tell you how fortunate you are there was no spinal cord damage or a flat out twisted neck. I've seen people be hurt by significantly less steep falls on wood or carpeted steps. It's just a grace of God thing, mom."

"I knew she wasn't stable. I knew it. But how do you stop someone who can be anywhere they want and can't be caught?"

"I'll find a way, I promise."

The Beast had a mission. Mother had been hurt. Mother was his, his to protect and his to care for. She was everything to him besides Chloe. He wouldn't let her be threatened. There was no predator more fearsome than he was. He was leaning over her bed when she startled in the middle of the night. He wrapped one large, taloned hand around her throat and squeezed. "No Marthaaaaaa."

She struggled and he could see the green mist already collecting.

"No motherrrrr."

Wide eyed, the girl disappeared, but he'd left his message. Next time, he'd tear her throat out in her sleep.

Davis blinked awake and found himself in his own bed. He'd dreamed, hadn't he? He'd never changed before, and there was no blood on his hands now. So what if he woke up naked? It didn't mean...he couldn't be changing. It was the last thing in the world he wanted, no matter what he told Clark. No matter if they were the same. He didn't want to be a beast himself.

Dear god let it not be true.

Shaking, her pulled his quilt over his head in a way he hadn't done since he was a kid. In the dark, he was safe. In the dark, he could close out the world around him. In the dark, he wasn't going to be a monster.

_Clark _

"I don't want to see you!"

"I...mom says you hurt her."

Alicia glared at him up from the collection of beakers she was working with. "Your mother was mistaken. I don't go around injuring anyone, even old bats who ruin my relationships."

"Mom's not like that."

"If I had pushed her, she would have deserved it."

She had. His mom had been right all along and she was unstable as the rest of them. "You did, didn't you?" And he could feel the anger welling up in him, the way his eyes burned and the world tinted red."

Alicia slid back from him, her heart pounding rapidly in his ears. "You came to me you know. Last night, you came and held me before I teleported away."

"What?" he said, calming a little, at least enough to turn off his heat vision.

"You weren't like you were now. You were huge and spiked but your eyes were still red and you called Ms. Clark your mother. What the fuck are you?"

"I'm a lot of things, but I'm better than you. Goodbye Alicia and don't mess with my family again," he finished, speeding home where he belonged.


	18. Chapter 18

_Clark _

It was a long spring and summer, even into the fall. Chloe was busy most often with her column, especially in the summer when her schedule permitted her to do two articles a week-one on Thursday and one on Monday. His brother was working very hard with sometimes double shifts even if grandfather and mom insisted he didn't need the money. Patrolling continued at least but it felt like the only time he ever saw his brother. It wasn't really a time for bonding and talking. Throwing meteor mutants thirty feet was sort of a bonding experience but definitely not one that came with heart to hearts.

The worst was thinking about what he'd done. His mom had recovered slowly with a modicum of physical therapy for her damaged leg. But she'd been right. Girls with meteor mutations were too dangerous to go near, they were killers, plain and simple. Kyla had torn a man's throat out and Alicia had come ungodly close to killing his mother. There wasn't anyone like him and his mom was right about that. There weren't other girls like Chloe anywhere either. Even Alicia, when she'd seen his other half had been terrified of him, scared over what he really was.

Clark sighed again, as he lay five feet above his bed, hoping he'd crash in time to dress and speed to school. It was October. He'd had this particular ability for seven months and he had fuck all idea how to make it work, just that he floated in his sleep and that it was up to his mercurial body to let him fall back down. He certainly couldn't make it work on his own, let alone fly like Chloe thought he could try. Jumping off the far tower of the estate and leaving an impression in the ground seven feet deep had taught him that.

What a waste and what random fucking ability to have.

Didn't make much sense to be a floating monster, did it?

Even mock trial and the economics team made him a little moody. People liked Clark Kent, sure they did. He had friends on the teams who appreciated his skill and intelligence. Sometimes he even invited a guy or two over for Xbox or sometimes the whole team for mock trial over to his pool for the summer, to get advice in lawyering from grandfather and to take in some sun. It was enjoyable, but it always haunted him that if they knew what he was underneath, then they wouldn't like him.

Hell, Clark didn't like himself, he didn't expect anyone else to either.

He knew from her heartbeat that his mom was about to enter the room, even before she knocked. "Sweetheart, did you come down yet?"

He sighed and bobbed as he expelled the air. "Not exactly. I've only been awake about five minutes. It should be better by fifteen. No worries." His mom nodded and he knew the look she was giving him. Lord knows that Chloe had given it to him enough in the three plus years he'd known her. Pity.

"Mom, I'm okay really. The not landing is a pain and I'm a little embarrassed but, honestly, it's a really comfortable way to sleep." That was at least true. No mattress was more comfortable than what he could do and he could even explain that. It just was.

She forced herself to smile; he could tell it wasn't even reaching her eyes, let alone genuine. "I'm glad for that. I know it's been a while with this one, but I promise you will figure this out. We just need to figure out what makes it work."

"Well I guess Davis's theory about it being happy thoughts about a girl isn't true because the last person I want to have happy thoughts about is Alicia."

His mom nodded and sat down at his desk. She still limped a bit and had started to wear pants only to work or social functions to hide the scar on her leg. "Now you learned that a girl with meteor-based powers isn't for you. I was hurt but it could have been worse. Your brother was right about that. We made it away from her alive and, frankly, it's massive progress that The Beast didn't kill her."

He shuddered. "Yeah, me graduating to humans hasn't happened yet. You should have seen the way she looked at me, mom. I hate that 'what are you' question so much because I don't even have an answer except 'I'm Clark.' It's not like Davis and I will ever know where we came from or why we were sent away. We have all these lingering questions about what's happening to us, not the least of which are both our nightmares, his blood lust and my claustrophobia. I want someone to tell me it's going to be alright."

"I say that often, and since Kyla, your other half has either been gentle or it's been using its aggression to hunt rabbits and deer. Like Chloe and Davis have said, you're not committing mortal sins."

"No," he said, finally crashing to the plain mattress below. "I'm not, but I don't think I'll ever be able to get the way she looked at me out of my head. I don't fit with humans, I don't fit with mutants, and I just don't know where to go from there."

"Chloe cares very much for your brother. I think I've grown to accept that, and she's just human."

He nodded and tried not to make direct eye contact with her. "Yes but she's one of a kind."

_Chloe _

"Chlo-bear, if Davis wants thirds of my chili enchilada special, then he can have it. Like I always say, mi casa es su casa."

She rolled her eyes and blushed at Davis. He'd met her dad a few times over the years, but daddy was always so busy traveling with Lionel that dinners like this were few and far between. She appreciated all her dad had given her and all that his hard work had been able to provide, but she desperately wished that her father would spend more time state side. Maybe if it were true, and Lionel's liver cancer was terminal, maybe he'd be able to find another job where he could be home like other fathers.

Not that it mattered much. She'd be at Met U in a little under a year.

Davis smiled and took another massive helping. Chloe attributed this to his metabolism. Clark had always eaten ferocious amounts and once Davis got his strength, he was the same way. Clearly it took a lot of calories to be as strong as they were, to help sustain that.

"Thanks, Mr. Sullivan, I really appreciate that."

Her dad nodded. "I appreciate how well you're treating my little girl. However, I reserve the right to beat you with a shovel if you either, you know, or break her heart."

"Daddy!" she shrieked. She and Davis had not done _that _yet. Clark, being the honest guy he was, had told Davis that the first couple weeks in Gotham, he'd broken a lot of girls' wrists or ribs. As a result, Davis was hesitant to do anything too far with her.

It was difficult to weather but she figured one day Davis would get over his insecurities. After all, Clark had. It just was going to take time for Davis to figure it out, to put his fears to rest. She could wait for him; she'd wait for years if she had to.

"Well that's very good, Chlo-Bear, and I mean it, Davis, if you hurt her, I'll be really upset. Treat her right."

"I always do sir."

With that she and Davis got up, cleared their plates, and headed to the living room (daddy was smart enough not to let Davis into her bedroom, more's the pity). Sitting side by side on the couch was wonderful. She considered popping in a movie, but he was so comfortable to lean against that she didn't dare want to desert him.

"Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"I...remember when you said if I had any problems, if I started to change more, that I could talk to you about it?"

"Of course," she said, angling herself on her back so that she could look into his eyes. Why? What happened? I know the nightmares are getting worse. Even if Clark and Martha hadn't admitted it, I can tell by how tired you are half the time. Are you sleeping at all?"

"Four or five hours a night. It's enough to do my work."

"It's not good for you, even if you're invulnerable and I think you realize that."

He sighed and started to stroke her hair. "I don't think it was Clark who scared Alicia off. I really think it was me. Clark didn't know about Alicia being involved until the day _after _mom went to the hospital, and he didn't believe it until his confrontation with Alicia. I did know. Sometimes I just feel all this anger and rage, even when I'm like I am now."

"How much rage?" she asked, her tone even.

"So much. I...if anyone threatened my family, the four of you, it wouldn't be pleasant for them. I just feel like ripping and rending someone apart is fair, that it's justice if they dare hurt my mom or Clark or you. I feel this when I'm human. If I do change, I can't imagine how strong that rage part of me is."

Chloe shivered a little despite herself. She loved him. She didn't want him to change either, if only for his sake, because she'd seen how much it had ruined Clark. "We can always...there's always a way to figure things out."

"Like how Clark figured out floating? Or how patrolling or meditation keeps him, possibly us, from changing? Chloe get real. We're cosmically screwed. Clark used to ask me, when he first realized how different he was if they sent us away for being too dangerous to keep on our home world. I didn't believe it at first, but, god, if you could feel the blood lust like I do or the rage. I don't know why The Beast defers to you and to mother the way it does. I'm glad for your sake that it does, but there's so much rage there. I can feel it building to a crescendo and when that happens, it'll start tearing people apart and killing for fun. I know this."

Chloe felt tears begin to roll down her cheeks. "I know that Clark wasn't half clothed when he found Kyla's body. He didn't have a spot of blood on his face. If he'd torn her apart and shifted back, he'd have been covered in it, not just on his hands and shirt from cradling her. It would have been all over and we both know it. I dismissed it for a long time, maybe I didn't want to see it. Maybe I couldn't. I don't even know which one of you is which. If you're both the same. If The Beast is Clark or if it's you. I...it really could be. It could have been all along."

He frowned and dropped his hand from her. "Why would I eat my own dog?"

"I have no idea. I don't know why The Beast acts as it does. I'm just trying to piece it together. The cow was crushed on your farm and everyone assumed because of his strength that it was always Clark. Did you always feel this rage? This need to save your mom and him?"

"Jonathan threatened to send us away. I didn't want that to happen."

"Rage there?" she prodded.

"A lot of it."

"And the blood lust, the need to hunt is pretty constant, flares up periodically. You're just really becoming aware of it over the last year and a half."

"Yeah."

"You like me a lot, more maybe even than Clark, and The Beast brought me gifts."

"I was mad mom blacklisted you. I wanted Kyla out of Clark's life, and was furious with Alicia, wanted vengeance." Davis closed his eyes for a long time, and, at least once, she got him mumbling a quick prayer. "It's me, isn't it? All this time we thought it was Clark and it wasn't. He's gone through so much for years and years and it was always about me."

"I don't know if that's true. If you're alike there could be both of you running around. Clark was slicked with blood after the yearling. Davis, I'm so sorry. The evidence is circumstantial but there's a ton of it!"

He nodded and clenched his jaw. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I like how the rage and the craving for blood make me feel. Like I said, it's better than sex."

"I-" she started before there was a loud crash from her kitchen.

Davis stood up and before she could blink, he was gone.

Rushing regular speed to the kitchen, she found her father unconscious and barely breathing. "I...wow."

"We don't have time to analyze yet another ability. He's burning up. We have to get him to a hospital now; I think it's at least 104." With that, Davis blurred and was gone, leaving Chloe to grab her car keys and to rush to Met Gen on her own.

_Clark _

He held Chloe's other hand. Davis was holding her right and he couldn't keep himself from holding her left and being grateful that she'd let him comfort her too.

"I don't think I understand."

"What's there to get," Davis snapped, unusually short tempered. "I can run like you can now. Speed, invulnerability, strength, blood lust. It's speeding up."

Clark frowned. "My stuff started to speed up like crazy during puberty. I don't know why you were so delayed. I wish I understood us even a fraction."

"Like why you float or have heat vision and I don't. Hell the hearing too."

Clark nodded. "We seem so different."

Chloe sniffled. "Maybe you are, maybe you're not. God, I just can't think right now. How did daddy go from being fine to a 105 degree fever in a flash. It's not like usual when he's come back from Bora Bora or wherever remote with Lionel. There was no place to contract something exotic."

Davis considered that. "What about something here? He works with the staff at the manure plant in Smallville pretty often and that's a place full of dangerous stuff the CDC and the EPA ignore. Has he been there lately?"

She nodded. "He was there two days ago, doing a regular inspection. He didn't mention anything weird about it."

That was enough to be suspicious. Smallville bred the weird and exotic. Why not a toxic fever as well?

"Chlo, would you be okay here waiting for your dad. I know it's hard, but I think we might need to investigate the plant."

"You mean The Blur and The Ultimate?" she hissed. "Don't forget to cover your faces. LuthorCorp plants have tons of cameras and video feeds and you'll be in daylight."

"Yes mom," Davis said patiently, kissing her cheek.

It almost didn't hurt to watch that anymore.

Really it didn't.

_Davis _

Running was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. The world whipped by him so fast, it was almost a blur itself of green fields and blue sky and his brother's cape-oddly after Alicia and the floating, he'd insisted on one to complete his Zorro look-flapping in the breeze in front of him. It felt like hours running with never a need for another breath. Instead, after checking his watch when they skidded to a stop at the plant, he found it had only been thirty seconds. Unreal

Clark was staring at him when they were done. Davis wondered if it would be yet another crack about his trench. It was still better than a cape, no matter what Clark said.

"What?"

"I just am not used to someone as fast as I am. It's pretty cool, actually. We can race."

"Maybe later, Andretti, today we're in investigative stealth mode."

"Yeah, nothing says inconspicuous like all black and masks in the day time."

"Just follow my lead," he said, walking to a side door of the plant and snapping the lock without effort. There was something to be said about being a rapidly developing and nearly all powerful alien, just not all of it good. Clark followed him into the hallway, but stopped him from walking any further.

"What?"

"Cameras, security. We're safe in a lot of ways, but use your speed. I'll cover the west half, you cover east and we'll meet back here in five. We need to keep our ears and eyes open for anything unusual."

"A fertilizer experiment gone wrong?"

"You never know with those stupid rocks," his brother said, before zipping off. Davis followed suit in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately there wasn't much to see. He didn't have Clark's hearing and so he was able to catch snippets here and there as he sped past but nothing too lengthy. He didn't notice any place, no matter how many doors he checked that resembled a lab. Just a lot of refinery equipment was present. Sighing, Davis rushed back to where they'd agreed to meet up. He skidded to a sloppy start just as his brother materialized, chuckling a little.

"Running's easy. Stopping's hard. Try not to smash into anything, okay?"

He nodded. "Tell me you found something, cause I didn't."

Clark nodded and tilted his head a bit like his Schnauzer had long ago. "To the west side, I saw them working with the green meteor rocks behind glass with the thinnest coating of lead paint ever. I...they're talking about Mr. Sullivan and about a bacteria from the meteor rock test getting out. It's...this makes no sense."

"What?"

"They're talking about its military applications? LuthorCorp doesn't seem to just be making fertilizer anymore. This stuff it plagues on your fears. Gives you nightmares until you die of a heart attack. Mr. Sullivan doesn't have much time."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know I...oh god."

"Clark! Come on, don't hold out. You went pale so fast. Did Gabe die?"

Clark shook his head and wobbled a little on his feet. "No it's Chloe. She has it too."

_Chloe _

This wasn't right.

She was sitting over her dad's hospital bed one minute and then she was lying in bed with Davis the next? Naked Davis, her naked as well, and leaning on his chest. When had they had sex?

"You're amazing," he said.

"No...this isn't right. I don't remember this and your mom's gonna kill me if she finds us."

Davis shook his head and laughed. "You're not a kid anymore. You're past the age of consent and we've dated for over a year and a half. She'll get over it."

Chloe sat up and pulled the blanket to her breasts. "We've never slept together."

"Then what do you call this?"

"I...an illusion. I can't understand this. I must have passed out or something with daddy cause I didn't sleep last night. This isn't real."

A taloned hand reached out to her and she was shocked that Davis was changing ever so slowly in front of her. "Isn't it? Isn't this what we finally figured out. That I'm the killer? That I rolled in Kyla's blood and loved it."

Everything was coming out distorted now as the change swept across him, as his mouth became a gaping maw. He lunged for her and Chloe reacted, rolling off the bed and scrambling to her feet to run. She made it three steps before she was being circled by Davis. His speed was amazing.

"Please, not me."

Red eyes gleamed back at her, hungry and feral.

He lept for her throat and she screamed, bracing for the end, when something even faster and just as gray and washed out slammed into him.

"Clark!" The two beasts circled each other and sprung for each other's throats. Chloe could barely follow the motions, just a flurry of claws and fangs, blood spilling too and staining the floor scarlet. "God stop it!"

It went like that for what seemed like forever but with their speed could only have been minutes if that. When they finally stopped, she was left staring at the both of them, both throats torn out and breath coming in gurgles that made the blood at their jugulars bubble.

She knelt between them, both already glassy eyed, and she cried.

There was only one way for Naman and Segeeth to end.

Chief Joseph had warned her. There would be a fight to the death.

_Davis _

"Chloe, come on, you have to hear me. You have to wake up!" he begged, stroking back her bangs and her forehead was so hot and the sweat poured liberally down her forehead. With a temperature that high and a heart rate almost twice normal, she wouldn't last long.

"Clark what do we do?"

"I don't know. They said at the lab that there was only one attempt at a cure, but it wasn't ready yet and not tested at all."

"We could steal that."

"If we did that and it was worse than the bacteria, it could kill her."

"If we don't do it, she'll die for sure. We have to go."

Clark sighed and stood. "If anything happens to her because we rushed the antidote, I will never forgive you. Is that understood?"

He nodded and then he stumbled, feeling suddenly woozy. Beside him, Clark was wavering unsteadily on his legs. "I...we can't get sick?" Davis asked and that was the last he knew as he and his brother crashed to the floor.

When he woke, he was with Kyla and she was human, but her throat was still torn out and her face was ruined, claw marks everywhere, one eye hanging out of its socket by the thinnest, most precarious of strands. "What is this?"

She sneered or tried to with what was left of the skin on her face. It cracked and bled as she did so. "It's your work. Don't you recognize it? Did you really think that it was Clark all along? Did you really not get that when you woke up slicked in blood too or when there were odd stains by your bed, that it wasn't really you? I think you must have. You didn't want to believe it, but you had to have known."

"He and I are brothers. We're the same."

"Are you?" she snickered. "How do you feel about your brother deep down? What does The Beast in you want? What do you think of every time he stares too long, to lovingly at Chloe? Admit it. You want to tear him to shreds the way you did me, show no mercy."

"No, that's not true. I saved him, brought him back from Gotham. I protect him every day. I _love _. He's my blood."

Kyla laughed again and licked blood from her lips. "That's what you think, but if it ever weren't true...wouldn't that rage feel so much better, abate, if you just killed him. It's what's destined to happen anyway, one of you kill the other, one of you the ultimate destroyer and the other the hero. Which one do you really think you are with the blood lust burning inside of you?"

"I won't kill him. I won't."

She laughed long and hard. "Of course you will, when the time comes, just like you killed me."

He awoke with a start to see Clark's worried face hovering over him. Clark. In a hospital gown. "You're awake?"

"I know. It's supposed to be impossible, but, of course, not like everyone else. Something in our blood could save Mr. Sullivan, Chloe, and the other plant employees just brought in."

"No, no exposure Clark. We go, grab the antidote and get the Hell home. End of story," he said, blurring off before his brother could argue.

"You took a huge risk, you do know that, Davis. I expect you to be more responsible than Clark. You're older."

He nodded and slipped off his mask. "We asked for the vials. It made the most sense. We couldn't just speed and grab them unnoticed. We couldn't."

"Now people can confirm the vigilantes in Smallville exist and that they're inhumanly fast, both of them. It wasn't smart."

"Chloe was dying, so was her father and a dozen other plant workers. What did you expect us to do?"

"I expected you to do what was expedient and safe."

"I wasn't going to let anyone die, let alone Chloe. I love her."

His mother closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. "I can't lose you. I won't. I know what you do helps your brother deal with his differences. I do understand that and how scared he is of his nature, but taking bigger risks like this? Someone will find you and then you'll be in trouble I can't even begin to fight. I have my resources but if you get dragged off by the government, there won't be anything I can do to save you from some remote base in god knows where, do you understand that?"

"No weaknesses," he finished. "You know that."

"Everyone has a weakness, Davis. It doesn't have to be you physically. Think for five seconds. If they find out who you are, you think they'd hesitate to threaten father and me? To steal Chloe away and hold her hostage now until forever if you don't cooperate. Everyone has a weakness and yours is us."

He took a slow, shuddering breath. "I know, but I couldn't let her die. She's mine."

He almost wanted to growl at that.

What was happening to him.

"Davis?"

"Yes mother?"

"Clark told me he dreamed about the ship again, as he always does, that it was the same thing that's always plagued him. Baby, what did you dream of?"

He looked away from her. "I think we're wrong, mom. I think I'm The Beast."


	19. Chapter 19

_Martha _

She'd set up the camera in the boys' room. It was foolish to never have done it earlier. Maybe she'd been scared to, deep down, maybe she'd always wondered if both changed or if she'd suspected Davis was more likely a suspect. Hell, maybe it was just because the idea of what happened when The Beast erupted from human skin was too disturbing to want to watch.

It took two months of monitoring. Two months of personally reviewing security footage and of waiting for when it happened.

Shortly before Christmas, she found what she'd been looking for and scared to find. Clark was the heaviest sleeper in the history of any world because Davis was screaming when he changed, the way his bones crunched and dislocated, the way he shrieked...how could he have no memory any time of such pain. She turned away as the spikes erupted from his skin and he writhed on the floor.

When she turned back, Clark was still floating peaceful above his bed and The Beast was staring back at her.

She didn't know what she was going to do. All this time spent keep Clark in isolation and lock down and, despite his strength and speed, it was never him. Davis all along and she'd missed it or ignored that nagging feeling that plagued her every time she couldn't find blood on Clark after "his" hunts. She was a fool.

Tomorrow, she'd let Davis hunt tonight, and then she'd address this with her sons tomorrow. Tonight, she'd drink.

Davis fell unsteadily into the couch behind him. "It is me."

She nodded and rushed over to put her arms around him. Her strong son, the one who had protected Clark so fiercely. Of course it made so much sense. Jonathan had threatened them, make his herd suffer. Kyla had been a threat in her own way, taking his brother from him. Alicia'd almost killed her. Similarly, she'd been a threat too to the career of the woman he loved.

All this time, The Beast had been protecting those he loved and killing or menacing those who hurt his family.

How could she have missed this?

"We don't know that it's only you. If Clark is like you exactly, he didn't change last night or the two months before now, but it doesn't mean he necessarily can't."

Clark frowned. "So I'm not home free?"

"We'll keep watching. We just don't know why you two are so different. I don't know if we'll ever be able to understand that. If only Davis can change and you can't, then, I don't know. It might be possible all along that you're not biologically related."

"What?" Davis asked, not letting her pull away from him.

"It's crossed my mind that you're two different species but that wherever you're from your people and Clark's co-existed."

"Um like Neaderthals and human?" Clark asked, confused.

Her boys had always been well read and informed. "Perhaps. The ship was open when we found it. I haven't been able to open it in over a decade once it shut, but, frankly, there was only one seat in the ship and it was small, much smaller than Davis was when he came."

"I was in the ship though. Clearly, I'm not human or even a meteor freak."

"No, I think either you both were crammed incredibly tightly in there or that it was always _Clark's _ship and that you were a stowaway."

Davis finally untangled himself from here. Staring at his brother, he barely spoke, certainly not above a whisper. "We're not related?"

"I don't know that for sure. It's just a thought I've had for a long time, because of how different you development and abilities are even now. You're brothers here in this house and you always will be, the same way I'm your mother. Blood isn't important in it."

"Unless you roll in it and lap it up fresh from the tap," Davis muttered.

It broke her heart to hear it.

_Clark _

He wasn't a monster.

Okay, take that back. He had a small probability he changed like Davis did, but there was no proof he could. Davis had been the one all along at least for the big things. He'd done the cow and Kyla, scared mom and Alicia, even eaten Morris. Clark couldn't swallow. His brother had murdered someone who mattered to him a lot, even if she was sick and had killed. He'd cared a great deal for Kyla.

He felt horrible for his brother. He knew full well what a life condemned to that felt like, even if it hadn't been him, he'd lived in the isolation. For almost four years, he'd dreaded the morning, fearing a dead human would be covered in blood at his bedside. Of course, the worst being terrified he'd end up alone because, after all, who could truly love a beast?

He was smiling and that was wrong. It was so wrong. His brother had just received the worst news possible and Clark was grinning in his room like an idiot. Davis was still downstairs with mom, but he had no right to be so relieved. He didn't. Even if he'd been paroled from the threat of being The Beast-and no one could yet prove he was home free yet-he was still alien, still alone in that way. Yet, his body was probably not betraying him the way he thought it was. He wasn't hunting and killing.

"I'm free."

"Maybe squirt," his brother said tiredly. "I didn't know. You have to believe me. I didn't know that it was me. If I had, I'd never have let you think that for four years. I never would have let mom and grandfather keep you isolated for so very long. I'm sorry."

Clark nodded as Davis laid down on his bed. "Don't be. I feel like an ass cause this is everything I've dreamed of ever and it might be true. I mean, we have to keep looking for The Beast in me, I know that, but I just feel so happy and that's wrong, because you're suffering."

Davis shrugged. "If it were reversed, I'd be relieved too. I understand. No one wants to be what I am and you thought you were. It's terrifying. I know now that I killed Kyla, could have killed mom the first time."

"I know you killed her. Do you know why?"

"She wasn't right for you. I remember being so angry at her as a human; I don't remember anything else. I blank when I change. It's like blackouts, obviously, because after fifteen years I never remembered a damn thing."

"I don't know how to reconcile that. I know you can't control it. I thought the same thing when it was me. I know that, but I cared for her. I know what she turned out to be, but I cared for her so much and you took that from me."

"I know and I'd do anything to take it back. I never wanted to be a murderer Clark, I swear it."

"Yeah," he replied, staying silent for a long time. "What do we do now? What if mom's right and one of us stowed away on the ship? What if we're not actually brothers?"

"I feel like your brother. Fifteen years of protecting you says that I am."

"You were always good at that, yeah. What do you need me to do to help you?"

"I tell you what, you watch me, keep your ears open. You're the only one strong enough to follow me at night and make sure it's just deer or goats or moose I hunt. Make sure I don't kill a sentient being again. Please."

"I will. Hey, Davis?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you help me with the floating thing. You were so good with the heat vision. I know I've pretty much sucked at it for a year, but together...we make a good team."

Davis smiled for what felt like the first time since the bacteria scare. "I think I can do that."

_Chloe _

"Oh god," she said, watching the footage with Davis. Her dad was in Armenia this week and, thank god, no one would stumble onto the footage Davis had smuggled out of his mom's office. "It must be so painful."

"I don't remember it," he conceded from where he sat across the living room from her on an old ottoman.

"You're screaming. It's blood curdling."

"But it doesn't hurt forever and I never remember. That's something, I guess."

"Yeah but I hate that it hurts you. I don't know how any of this is fair."

"It's not. One of us had to be The Beast, maybe both and Clark will surprise us, I don't know. I've known for a long time, though, even if I didn't want to admit it. When I had dreams about the blood, when they were the most amazing experience I'd ever had, when I _craved _being back in that moment, then I knew something was wrong with me."

Tear track littered her face. She couldn't stop crying. This was the man she loved and what happened to him was not only horrible but also painful. She'd always prayed for Clark, hoped deep down, that it didn't hurt when he changed. Knowing it was illogical to think that spikes erupting from skin would do anything but be excruciating, she'd hoped anyway. Now she couldn't stop crying. He would always suffer that pain even if he forgot it. He would always have to hunt. He would always bathe in the blood of his prey.

"I am so sorry."

"I...we can't be together. There was so much I wanted to be able to give you, even if I had to hide the powers I did have, but I can't now."

"You don't think we could get married and I could be a reporter and you could be an EMT still? You think we can't find a place of our own deep in the woods to hide your other half? Truly?"

"I can't. You deserve more than babysitting me, than a life where you most assuredly can't have children. What? Little beastlings tearing up rabbits and chickens? Chloe, you deserve so much more."

She crossed over to him and brought his head to her chest. "I want you. that's all I want. I don't want anyone or anything else. Don't do this."

"I have to, Chloe. I'm not safe. I just...I can't stand to look at me, how could you?"

"You bring me roses and tulips. You learn to speak from me. You lay at my side and guard me when daddy's out of town. That part of you...it's not the worst thing you could be."

"I'm a killer, and I won't have you subjected to that." Before she could process what was happening, he was gone, back to the estate to hide, the same way he always had. Anything that changed, he'd cut his losses, cut his ties to the world a lot more, and seclude himself even from his brother or mom.

Breath hitching, Chloe brought her knees up to her chest and cried.

Radio silence.

She saw Clark at the Torch but in seven weeks, he hadn't offered her much about Davis and his state of mind. She'd ask every week, sometimes several times (she'd done it nonstop the first two weeks but it only angered Clark), and she always got the same response. Davis was fine. He was dealing.

Until he wasn't.

She was shocked when Clark and Davis both in their patrol uniforms showed up at her house at 2 a.m. Daddy this time was in Brussels and Lionel was on his last legs, everywhere from CNN to _The Wall Street Journal _was speculating when it would be the final days of the head of LuthorCorp, analyzing how the stock would fall or how it could possibly rebuild itself when his son was already dead. Soon her dad would be able to get a job that actually let him stay home with her, but today was not that day. Considering Clark was dragging Davis into her house (damn giving away house keys), she was grateful.

Daddy never would have understood this was Defcon 1 and not some weird sex thing.

"Do you need help with Davis?"

"No, I can lift a lot more. I just don't want him to rabbit."

Davis blinked at her and she knew immediately something was wrong. He didn't look away from her guiltily or blush or shrink in on himself. He just stared back at her blankly, as if she were just a teller at a bank or a waitress. "Davis?"

"Who is she? Who are you people? How do you move so fast?" he demanded, glaring at Clark. "What's happening?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" she asked.

"I don't remember anything," he said, frowning. "Why don't I remember anything?"

"Nothing at all?" Clark prodded. "Are you sure? Mom even? I can you see our mother in your mind?"

Davis furrowed his brows in concentration. "Yes. Tall, maybe 5'10 with long brown hair and this haughtiness to her. She's forceful and beautiful. I...Faora, does that sound right?"

"That's what you remember?" she pressed, glancing at Clark who shrugged. "What else can you see?"

"A man next to her, even taller, with a beard and a proud crest on his clothes. It's made like a 'z.' Z for Zod. Our father?"

Clark shook his head. "I meant mom here, the woman who adopted us, and she used to say I called her 'Lara' a lot. I don't understand where you got Faora and Zod from."

"Adopted? I don't see anything but them and they're talking to me, so proud, telling me I'm all they ever wanted and I have a great destiny to fulfill. It's cold where we are, like all ice and snow, crystal which is insane, like the world's biggest igloo. What is this?"

"I honestly don't know. You never remembered from _before _," Clark admitted.

"Before we were adopted?"

Clark looked at her and looked terrified, his eyes wide. "Should we tell him?"

"Your call."

"Tell me what?" Davis demanded and he slammed his fist down on the kitchen table in frustration. When he did it splintered down the middle and crashed to the floor. "What the Hell?"

"I...you're not exactly from around here," she said, fumbling for how to do this best.

"Where am I from then?"

Clark sighed and squeezed his brother's shoulder. "A galaxy far, far away."

_Davis _

He wasn't human.

He didn't remember his life but he remembered the basic facts of life. There were no such things as aliens. They were the stuff of movies and of bad stories from drunken backwoods hillbillies. They were little and green or had big bulbous heads and humongous eyes. They certainly weren't as objectively attractive as Clark was and, frankly, looking in the mirror, Davis realized he wasn't a bad looking guy himself.

He was still staring in the bathroom that this girl, Chloe was it? That this girl had in her bathroom upstairs. Staring at his face did nothing, he didn't remember even what he looked like. He was trying to memorize every line and contour so that at least he'd know that much. Idly, he pulled at his skin.

"It doesn't come off."

Chloe sighed. "No it wouldn't. This is mainly what you look like, about 90% of the time."

"What else do I look like?" he asked and his heart was racing. He was from outer space apparently if these two people were correct and Clark's speed and his own strength seemed to be as good an indication as any that there was some merit in their claims.

Chloe, that was definitely her name, looked up at him and her lip trembled just a little. "You're a good man, Davis. You save people all the time. You work as an EMT and then in your off hours you and Clark use your abilities to help out in a town called Smallville that was devastated by a meteor shower. There's nothing wrong with the rest of it."

"What's the rest?"

She sighed and pulled out a video tape. "I think you need to sit down for this."

_Clark _

Davis was vomiting in the bathroom. Even with their speed, he'd barely made it. Clark guessed stomachs worked in superspeed too. When his brother came back to sit on Chloe's bed, he was shaking. "That's a trick, some CGI or something."

"You don't really believe that. You're strong, incredibly fast, and most invulnerable except apparently from your own stress causing you to be sick," Chloe replied.

Clark patted his brother's shoulder. "You don't hurt people. I...you hunt deer and rabbits. Sometimes you bring us stuff for stews."

"Yes that sounds useful," he snarked. "I might be a spiky nightmare, but at least I'm one who can bring home the bacon. This is horrible. What did I do to deserve this?"

"I don't think you did anything," Chloe said, taking his hand. "It was the luck of the draw and The Beast can be incredibly gentle with me and with your mother, Martha. You're not evil or some dumb animal, I promise."

"I'm awful."

Clark swallowed hard and looked back at his brother. "We didn't know about you. For a very long time because I got my strength first, we assumed it was me changing. Mom got the idea to set up the camera a while ago after you started having bad nightmares about hunting. I always believed it was me. Until six weeks ago, everyone thought that. Believe me, I know how you feel."

"I...how can either of you look at me?"

It didn't escape Clark's notice that Davis lingered as he gazed at Chloe. Opening up[ his hearing, Clark noticed how his brother's heart pounded. Some things remained constant. He'd already noted Chloe's on reaction to them on the doorstep. Her heart still pounding was only partly from unexpected guests.

Chloe took his hands and squeezed them. "Because I meant it. You're a good person."

Davis frowned. "Did we date? I feel like we know each other so well."

She smiled sadly up at him and Clark felt such emotions spinning through him-jealousy, anger, self hatred, even hope for his brother that Chloe could jog his memory.

"We did. We broke up a while ago."

"How long ago?"

"Six weeks," she said, frowning when he pulled his hands away. "You broke up with me because I wasn't human."

"No, Davis, you left me."

_Davis _

Ouch, getting his memories back in one huge flash had been as bad as them being stolen, except now, thanks to a meteor freak and thief extraordinaire, he was having his first migraine ever. The cold rag over his eyes didn't help much, neither did the thick curtains covering the windows to the outside.

He wasn't shocked that he had visitors. He was surprised that it was his mother. He'd been expecting Chloe. She'd helped take care of him when he hadn't known his name from a kumquat. He'd felt those flickers in his stomach. He did love her, desperately, but he wanted her to have more, to date a real human, just to try it. He'd been with her for two years, almost now. She just needed to explore the world more.

That was a given.

"Mom?"

She nodded and sat down beside him. "How are you?"

"Ugh, in some pain but that's how the memory reclaiming must work. I still feel horrendous."

"I'm sorry I was in New York with a client. I flew back as soon as I could but you were already 'back' and Chloe and Clark apparently did a good job of caring for you."

He nodded but didn't take the rag off of his forehead. "That's true. He shared a lot with me, telling me all about what it was like when he thought he was The Beast, and Chloe...god I love her."

"And giving her up is noble and the right thing. She's eighteen for Christ sakes. She's too young to be this settled with someone. You two fell so hard. I just think she needs a chance-"

"To decide if she wants rabbit stew every few months?"

"Something like that," his mother conceded, patting his left arm. "I don't know what would have happened if I'd been here from the beginning, if I'd been able to keep Chloe and Clark from telling you your secret."

"I don't understand."

"You carry such a burden because you want to protect Clark too, because you're the older one, the one I lean on to be responsible and to keep this family together. That's so much of a burden. So is knowing that you're an alien."

"Definitely."

"I wanted to give you a cleaner slate, a chance to never be burdened by The Beast. We'd let you stay here and monitor you, but try and keep you oblivious. You've been so miserable since you found out. I am so sorry."

"Not your fault. I've known for so long, and the video just reaffirmed it. I just don't know what I'm going to do now."

"Well I think living and patrolling again and being the best EMT you can helps a lot. You're so much more than The Beast, just like I told Clark he was."

"I know, mom."

"Now you just have to believe that. Davis?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Your brother said that you remembered things from before, that you remembered your birth parents."

"Yeah, Zod and Faora. I just saw them and they said I was being sent here for 'a great destiny.'" He snorted. "They weren't spikey monsters if that helps clarify it for you."

"Neither are you most of the time. I...it's odd."

"Why?"

"Your brother always called me 'Lara.' He did it for the first year I brought you home. He got better about it, but when he had his nightmares even until he was five or six, he woke up screaming for 'Lara.' I always assumed it was the word for 'mother' or her actual name."

"Faora was definitely what I remember her being called. I swear it."

His mom smiled sadly and kissed his cheek. "I love you both, you know."

She liked Clark better but he understood. He loved Clark too. The squirt was impossible to resist.

"I know."

"Even if you're from different mothers for sure, even if he was once Lara's and you were Faora's, you belong to me now. You're a 'Clark.'"

"I love you mom."

"I love you too, baby, and if I could take this burden from you, I would."

"Thank you, but it's mine to carry and always will be."

**

_Chloe _

She didn't usually walk into _The Monitor _office and find Davis sitting there. He was even in casual clothes and not his EMT wear.

"Are you Chloe?"

She rolled her eyes. "That's funny, real funny. I think your sense of humor and timing still need work."

"Thanks."

"For helping Clark, Davis-sit you, no problem. Helping both of you is what I'm here for."

He nodded and looked back her with such longing. She knew that look. Chloe had seen it every day in the mirror for six weeks.

"I do love you, you know."

She could barely swallow, let alone breath. It took her a while to collect herself. "I love you too."

"It matters to me that you take this chance. I'm letting you go for your own good. Date a college boy or three. Experience the world without aliens and monsters in it. You don't have to always care for us. We're not your job, Chlo."

"I wanted you to be."

He stood up then and walked toward her. Leaning over, he brushed her hair aside with his fingers. She was so tempted to lean up and kiss him. "Give it a year, if you still feel the same way, we'll talk about all of it, but trying this, trying something normal, would make me happier than you can imagine."

"Damn it! Why are you and Clark so noble? I want you, Davis, to be selfish. To fight for me. To tell The Beast and all the alien drama to go away for a while. I want you."

He sighed and kissed her cheek. "Now you know how I feel."

Within a blink he was gone.


	20. Chapter 20

_Chloe _

She hadn't believed it when the AP feed came over. Sitting in another boring chemistry lecture at Met U, Chloe had actually cursed to herself but miscalculated the acoustics in the room. Her professor informed her if she felt like saying certain four letter words, then she could step outside.

She took the opportunity this was too unbelievable for her to ignore.

Standing in the culvert behind the classroom building, Chloe called for Clark. "Hey, Clark? I need you. Get your butt over here from the physics lab okay?"

He appeared like magic in front of her about ten seconds later. He was getting so incredibly fast. He no longer blurred, just apparated almost like Harry Potter.

"What's wrong?"

"We have to see your mother, now, and call Davis, tell him to get to her office. This is a complete 911."

Frowning, Clark picked her up in a delicate cradle, something close and intimate enough that she could feel his breath on her neck, and sped her to the heart of downtown. They were in his mother's office before she could count to "three Mississippi."

Martha shook her head. "What on Earth. I know you had a lab to prep for, Clark, and that you have class until five, Chloe."

"This? This is bigger."

"What's bigger?" Davis asked as he did his own appearing act in the room.

Martha rolled her eyes indulgently and, Chloe noted, like herself the lawyer was losing her startle reflex with her boys around. "I don't know but Chloe's about to explain."

"Has anyone checked the news today?"

"I was working when Clark texted me before you left. The guys at the firehouse like wrestling tapes. Why?"

"School," Clark conceded.

"A case."

Chloe sighed. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Jack Jennings just got into massive trouble over a dead dancer at the Wingate."

"And that's bad because?" Clark asked, frowning. "I mean that's unfortunate, but it doesn't really affect me."

"Yes, it does. He stepped down three hours ago and guess who put his hat in the ring for the interim election?"

"I have no idea."

"Jonathan Kent."

_Davis _

He could feel The Beast in him growling, even as he walked over to squeeze his mother's shoulders and comfort her. The line between him and it was blurring badly. In the nine months since he'd realized what he really was, the instincts had begun to surge forward more and more. His mom didn't know nor did Clark that he'd started eating raw meat in private, the bloodier the better. They didn't know that he could feel The Beast now, under the surface, clamoring and clawing for release.

Clark had never felt the anger or the blood lust. He wasn't like him, even if his brother feared he had been for years.

No one would understand, so Davis kept his mouth shut.

But The Beast was howling with all it had, screaming to every fiber of his body that the threat had to go, that it had to be taken care of.

"What? Chloe you have to be mistaken. He doesn't have the resources to run, not at all."

She shook her head. "He married Nell Potter and she made quite a chunk selling off land to Lionel Luthor over the years, she sold her whole farm and the timber on it for a couple million to LuthorCorp shortly before Lionel died last summer. She could finance it for a few months since it's just an election in Lowell County."

Clark's skin had a greenish cast to it. "He knows about us. He can't...he knows. If he got to a position like that, he'd get connections who might believe him. He'd be able to find a way to hurt us."

"Or just try and let the world know at large who we are," Davis agreed. "It'd be bad enough and we'd have to go underground. If he found someone in the military to believe him after he got elected, then it'd be over for both of us."

His brother was shaking then. "I...they can't touch us. We're invulnerable."

"True. They'd be frustrated as Hell that they can't cut us into little pieces, completely true. Mom's always been right though. They threaten grandfather, Chloe or her and we'd go with them in heartbeat."

His brother reached out and squeezed their mother's hand. "Definitely."

"Then we need a plan of action. He can't get into office. Jonathan Kent can't be in any position where someone in even higher authority would believe him," Chloe said.

"Well," his mother conceded. "He's running on the Republican ticket. No one said that someone else can't run as his opposition."

Davis frowned, trying to figure out who they'd convince to run. "Okay, so?"

His mother smiled and it wasn't a pleasant look for her. "I have the means, the education, and will have the support of the Metropolis elite for all of Nell's maneuvering. I'm going to run."

_Martha _

She knew her boy so well.

Davis was busy on third shift tonight and tomorrow both her sons would go out to patrol, to keep Smallville safe from the radiation that their home world had brought with it. She'd noticed him shaking, his pallor. Davis got angry, wanted to get even when things like this happened. Clark shut down, curled in on himself metaphorically and physically.

It's how she found him clinging to his red blanket, staring at some reality tv nonsense in his room.

"Baby?"

"Oh hey mom."

She frowned and turned off the television, not the least interested in MTV's latest bit of exploitation. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Clark shook his head, "No but I know we're gonna."

She nodded and sat down beside him. "You don't have to worry. I'll win. I'll win no matter what I have to do."

"You're not gonna ruin him, are you?"

"No, but I'll dig until I find the dirt I need, should it come to that. I won't leave any stone unturned to save you and your brother. You do understand that, right?"

Clark nodded slowly and he was so big now, so broad and tall, and, yet, when she looked at him, she could only see the boy in the corn field with the blanket wrapped around him. "I hate him."

"I'm not fond of him myself."

"He was going to send me away. Me and Davis both. I never...I know I was too strong, but I wasn't bad. He didn't like me."

"No, he didn't care for you or for Davis. He was scared, Clark, and he wasn't ready to be parent someone as special as you both turned out to be. I will always take care of both of you, as long as I live. I don't care which one of you is The Beast. I don't care if you keep getting more superpowers. I don't. I won't let him ruin what grandfather and I have built. Do you understand that?"

He nodded. "How? How can you do that?"

"Using everything I know how to do. If it comes to it, I will bury him."

_Clark _

He pulled nervously on his tie. Today his mother was announcing her run for the empty Lowell County senate seat. He was wearing his best suit, one only reserved for the club and for occasions like this, occasions where all of Metropolis seemed to be watching him. Chloe was standing next to him, looking radiant in a green dress and gold hoop earrings. Clark sighed, used to the itch she left in his eyes. Behind her, he could see Davis making puppy eyes. His brother was obvious with how much he missed her, but at least hidden in back of her. When Chloe turned around to offer him a Coke, picked up from one of the caterers' trays, he plastered on the biggest, fakest smile.

Clark shook his head.

If he were a slightly better man, he'd work to get the two people he cared about most back together and happy, but it tore through him. He'd already stepped aside; he wasn't going to actively give Chloe away again.

He wasn't a damn cheerleader.

His mom's speech was blessfully short and he was ultimately grateful for that. He wanted to just blur home right away, to get out of all the scrutiny and press pics, but that wasn't how this worked. He was smiling so much with his brother and mother that he felt like his cheeks would get stuck pinched up that way. Still, it was better than what happened next.

Much better than when Jonathan Kent came up to shake his mother's hand.

He had to give his mom credit for being perfectly pleasant back. "I wasn't expecting either of you here, but I suppose in the spirit of good sportsmanship this is for the best." Shaking his hand, she added. "May the best person win."

"I intend to run a fair, clean campaign. Can you really say the same, Martha?"

Her smile changed to the one she reserved for cross-examinations. "I'll do what's necessary and what's right for my sons."

Jonathan looked back up at him and to Davis. He could feel how tight with stress Davis was. He was clearly acting like he was going to surge forward. The only thing that tempered him was Chloe's hand on his shoulder. "You both got so big, especially you," he said, squinting up at him, studying Clark. "Which one are you?"

"Clark, sir. I think you remember me quite well."

Jonathan's heart started racing and Clark was glad for it. "I believe I do. You're clearly not three anymore so forgive me for no knowing you on site. I'll remember to next time. Nell, dear, you remember Martha, don't you?"

His wife came forward, dressed impeccably in a pencil skirt, red blazer, and pearls. She looked very first lady ready. She'd even coordinated with a green pin in the shape of a Christmas tree for the coming holiday season. Oddly, as she stepped up to him, Clark swore it started to glow. Then suddenly, he felt it.

The horrible sensation tearing and rending through his inside, like blood boiling. Looking toward Davis, he knew his brother was in trouble too. His jaw was clenched tight to stop him from yelling out and suddenly he was sweating when he'd not done that in years.

What the hell was that?

It hurt like nothing he'd ever felt. He could be hurt, and the realization washed through him in cold chill.

Jonathan frowned at where the pendant was gleaming more than usual. Chloe looking between him and Davis and the pendant, which was now incandescent, asked the obvious question:

"That's so unusual. Where did you get it?"

Nell stopped her subtle digs about how plain Martha had been back in Smallville and smiled a beauty queen smile at Chloe. "This quaint artist in Smallville does such amazing things with the meteor rocks, both the red and the green ones. Isn't it to die for."

"I'll say. Clark, Davis? Can you walk me out and home. It's too late for me to be on the street by myself."

He was more than glad to get out of there; Jonathan's scrutiny was too much for him.

They were half way to Chloe's apartment when Clark heard something that distressed him. Pausing, he opened up his hearing and was shocked to hear Nell Potter screaming. He hesitated before look at his brother. "How fast do you think we can be?"

"Why?"

"I...someone's in trouble, a mugging."

Chloe narrowed her eyes at him. "You're holding back something."

"It's Nell...I we have to be fast. I just can't let someone be shot, even if this is a colossal mess."

Chloe sighed and patted his shoulder. "Go. It's what makes you two heroes."

With just a nod to his brother they were off. What they found was bad. Jonathan was lying on the ground, near the dumpster, bleeding from a split in the skin of his scalp. One of the muggers must have shoved him into it. One of the two was rushing toward Jonathan, gun drawn. The other had Nell's pendant in his hand and his pistol and was about to pull the trigger.

"Davis!"

His brother nodded and rushed for the man who once could have been their father.

Clark, not believing even he could outrace the coming shot, aimed his heat vision at the gunman's hand. The man screamed and dropped the gun and tossed the pendant the same time into the air. Clark's heat vision was still pouring out of him, he wasn't thinking and when he hit the pendant and it reflected into his own eyes, he screamed.

Nell was chattering above him, screaming at Jonathan to get up and for Davis to call the police. Half of it was garbled ranting, her adrenaline still surging through her. Some of it he could pick up. Per usual when people met them, it was a lot of "Oh god" and "What the Hell are you?"

He'd take offense later when his eyes weren't on fire and it hurt even to breathe. Sirens were wailing in the distance and Clark could feel Davis pulling him up by his shoulder. "Clark, we need to leave. What's wrong?"

"My eyes, the heat vision...the meteor rock reflected it right back to me."

"Squirt, open your eyes, now."

"Hurts."

"Please, just for a second."

Clark did as he was asked and started to shake. "Davis? Where are you?"

"Right in front of you, oh Christ what a mess. Can you see me?"

"No, no I can't."


	21. Chapter 21

_Davis___

"Clark, oh god. Clark we have to get out of here."

His brother waved both hands in front of him ineffectually, and Davis shuddered. Clark's eyes were a mess. The skin aroud the sockets was horribly blistered with the skin sloughing off. The eyes themselves were milky white, as if consumed by cataracts, and the pupils no longer visible. They moved frantically from side to side in Clark's panic, as if he were trapped in REM sleep with his lids open. How on Earth had he managed to heat vision himself? A stupid broach or whatever he'd hit should not have come close to doing this to him.

"I can't. I can't speed if I can't see!"

Davis looked back at Jonathan and Nell. Her eyes were wide and he was holding her closely. Davis didn't have his brother's acute hearing, but he didn't need it to hear the sirens of the police closing in. He did not want to answer questions or to have any of his brethren called in to exam Clark's wounds. Unacceptable.

"Squirt, this is gonna be cumbersome but bear with," he said, picking his brother-all six plus feet of him-and slinging him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. It wasn't heavy but his long limbs almost tangled in Davis's legs, but it was what he had to do. Sparing on more glance at Jonathan, Davis secured his grip on Clark and sped back to the estate. He'd come back as soon as Clark was safe in their room for Chloe.

_Martha_

"I don't understand."

Chloe was sitting with Clark in his room currently, trying to keep him calm. She'd taken a cold compress with her, but Martha doubted that would do much at all. On the other hand, they couldn't have Clark panicking and breaking through walls with his misguided strength.

Her oldest sighed and swept a hand through his hair. "The meteor rock. You had to notice it made us feel like crap. I don't know how he managed to do it. It was like a shot in a million, but his heat vision reflected off Nell's pin when the mugger dropped it. Apparently his own heat vision can damage him."

"No, he can't be...what can we do?"

Grandfather, who was home tonight, had watched them on cable access, frowned. "Martha, what do you think we could do? Everyone knows how hot his heat vision burns. He's managed to hurt himself with it. There's no doctor we could take him too and, even if we bribed someone with millions, they'd not understand him or how his vision works. We have to wait and see if it ever comes back."

_Ever_?

No, not her baby. Davis had been contained so far. They'd found a way to keep his beast at bay with a steady supply of deer and rabbits. It wasn't perfect, but it kept The Beast from going after bigger prey. She had no idea what to do if Clark couldn't see. He'd never be able to speed again, which he loved. He'd have to learn all over caution with his strength or risk making new doorways all over the house or shattering tables if he walked right into them. He'd not be able to help Davis on patrol, which he'd found solace in.

Clark would be house bound.

"No, we have to think of something. Davis is resistant to heat vision."

"I'm not what Clark is. We probably had different mothers to say the least. I'm a beast and he's not. Whatever I am or am not resistant to is moot. _Clark's_powers finally hurt him. We have to reteach him everything, at least restructure the estate to be friendly for him now that he's blind. I...he can adapt. God knows his hearing's more acute than any human's ever was. He can compensate some with his other senses."

"It won't help him run again or patrol. It won't help him use the gifts he loves."

"He'll learn how to do things again. Maybe he'll adapt in ways we can't even think about yet. I mean why wouldn't his sense of smell or touch get more acute too? I...at least he has the hearing."

She nodded and took a drag on her cigarette. Father frowned but didn't argue with her. "He's hurt."

"I know," her eldest replied.

"I hate that I put so much pressure on you. You boys had father but you never had a father to protect you, for discipline and guidance. You've always taken it upon yourself to keep him safe, even The Beast in you does this. Can you take care of him now, sweetheart? He'll need you more than ever, someone with your strength to help keep him from hurting himself."

Davis smiled and took her hand. "I'll always take care of him, mom, always."

_Clark_

"Hurts."

He could hear her sighing above him, hear her heart pounding, even the blood pumping furiously through her veins. Chloe and his whole family were running on adrenaline and worry. He could hear his mother, how scared she was for him, and his grandfather's truths. Not that he needed to. Clark wasn't stupid. There was not doctor for whatever the Hell he was, no treatments. He'd done it to himself and he'd never even be normal for him again.

The cold compress helped stop the burning of the skin on his cheeks, around his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Clark."

He swallowed and held her hand in his, just for a moment he wanted to feel her near to him.

"I won't get better."

Sighing again, the compress pressed a bit harder to his face. "You might. This could be fine in a week. We don't ever know. We never know with you two. It's a guessing game, alright. I have faith you can get through this."

He laughed mirthlessly. "Should I become _Daredevil_? Maybe I'll develop some sonar or something?"

"Don't tempt your body," she replied honestly. "We're here you know. It's an adjustment, but, you're pretty good about fixing your abilities."

"Except the floating thing."

"There is that. You'll be okay. We'll figure out a way to keep you from, well-"

"Crashing into doorways?"

"Your mom might have to proof the mansion a bit."

"Clark-proofing, an interesting concept."

"See there's some humor," she said, and he took a deep breath. He could already tell his sense of smell was getting more acute. He could smell so much on her-the hair dye she used to keep her roots blonde, the soft scent of her body lotion, the strawberry shampoo she used, even the stronger undercurrent of her own smell, of sweat and something deeper, and he blushed. That was more invasive than he'd thought.

"Clark? Are you okay? You seem flushed."

"I...my nose is getting more acute. It's a lot of information to take in," he said, hoping she'd let it drop.

Rustling above him and Chloe leaned over to hug him tight. "See? You'll adapt just fine. I know it."

He hated that he could feel the thumping of her heart, hear it too, as she lied.

"God damn it!" Clark swore, pulling his cane back from the table it was tangled in. It had been a week and so far he'd ruined one couch, three walls, and now the table. He was just grateful his mom had never been into collecting sculptures or pottery. Anything priceless would have been toast by day two.

"Squirt, hey, back up a little bit. You're going to do fine, alright?" Davis said, grabbing his shoulders and setting back on a presumably clear path.

"I hate this. I don't feel like I can go anywhere. I break everything. It's like my growth spurt before freshman year all over again."

"You're getting better."

"I haven't walked through a wall in two days, joy."

He could hear the rustle of fabric as Davis shook his head. "How is the rest of you?"

"I'm hearing more than ever. I'm pretty sure I got the overture for a broadway show, which is so bizarre cause we're like a thousand miles from New York. I can smell everything. It's annoying when we had fish last night cause it's not like salmon's not smelly enough. I swear I can even feel the air currents and the individual threads in my shirts. It's intense."

"Maybe that can help. At least the air currents can tell you where there's open space. Hearing can keep you from wandering into people or traffic, which wouldn't be any good for a car. I don't know what smell can do for you."

"Not make me want to go near fish," he quipped. "Davis, can you help me actually find the sofa?"

Strong hands were clamped on his shoulders, leading him to what was left of the sofa that he'd run into the day before. "You good now, Squirt?"

"Thanks."

"No problem. We're working on this. Hell, at least you're not lashed to a spikey monster like you thought."

He could hear the anger and frustration in his brother's voice. "I'm sorry it's you. I wouldn't want it to be me, but I'm so so sorry. What a pair we make. I'm like an alien wrecking ball whether I mean to be or not and you-"

"Hunt and tear deer apart every few months. Bitch not being human, isn't it?"

"Chloe still loves you, you know. It pains me to say this because I love her too and I wish to god she cared about me as more than a brother, I do, but she misses you so much and only a moron couldn't tell that."

"She deserves normal, someone who wouldn't kill her in bed, someone who wouldn't give her baby beastlings."

Clark couldn't stop himself from grimacing at the thought of that kind of childbirth. "Okay, well maybe not babies, but she's miserable. You're miserable. It's tragic because you're just being stubborn."

"Maybe but she hasn't tried to date. I said that she had to try a normal, human guy before I thought about going back to her."

"And what happens if she falls in love with him and never comes back to _you_?"

"Then that's what she needs, alright. Now let's see what we can hear on tv."

Clark snorted. "It's like radio. Grandfather and I can bond over 'the good old days.' This is so ridiculous."

"Yeah," Davis said, squeezing his shoulder and sitting down beside him. "But you're not alone."

"Neither are you and huh?" he said, sniffing the air.

"What?"

"Perfume. It's not from mom, Chloe, or Cecille. Makes my nose burn. I think someone's, yeah, I can hear it too; they're buzzing the gate. It's Nell and Jonathan's with her."

_Martha_

Nell Potter was skittish. Martha wasn't shocked. Nell did bitchy. Nell did conniving behind your back. Nell did not do direct confrontations with people who overpowered her. Martha shook her head and poured herself a drink. Holding out the bottle, she asked Jonathan and the other woman if they were interested.

Both declined.

More for her then.

Taking a swig, she eyed Jonathan coolly. "I wonder what you're here for. Afraid of real competition? My debut in the polls was solid."

"Not ahead of me by a long shot yet," he said. "I came to see the boys."

"I don't think that's wise."

"They saved my life and Nell's. I'd like to thank them, it's the honorable thing to do."

She snickered and drained her glass. "You don't know anything about being honorable, or you wouldn't have threatened to send them away. They were just kids. Clark was barely past being a toddler and you would have left them to something I can't even imagine."

"That was over fifteen years ago. They're clearly grown now. I don't see why you're holding grudges."

"My boys. I don't like when people threaten them, still don't. You have something to say to them? Make it quick and then I'll keep seeing you to debates. I don't have anything left to say to you."

"Frigid," he noted.

Nell, blinking, finally seemed to realize where she was. "What are they?"

Martha narrowed her eyes. "They're my children."

"They're so fast. I...what the hell did Clark do to himself. I felt some of that heat...it came from his eyes, didn't it?"

"I have no comment on that."

"Way to practice for press, Martha," Jonathan drolled. "Do you think it's wise to be out in the public eye with all Davis and Clark have to hide? Do you really?"

"What would you do if you got to office? What would you tell Lowell County or people higher up than you?"

"Are they dangerous?" Nell asked, interrupting the real conversation.

"They're mine. You'd do well to remember that, Nell," she groused. "What will you tell people if you win, if you have street cred?"

"There are two extremely dangerous creatures out there, Martha. I saw what Clark did as a child and now Davis is as fast and easily as strong. The public has a right to know and to protect itself."

"You're going to lose."

"You hope I do," he replied. "But Lowell County likes salt of the Earth, and not uppity Metropolis blue bloods."

"I can make you lose."

"Then game on," he said. "I want to see the boys."

"Five minutes. Thank them if it's so honorable and get the Hell out of my home."

_Davis_

Sometimes it felt like The Beast was beating against him, that it resented the flesh and blood cage that contained it as much as he hated it in return. When he helped lead Clark into the corner of the grand hall, The Beast bayed for blood.

Jonathan Kent was not welcome here.

"Mom?" Davis asked.

Clark turned his head back and forth, trying to focus on the myriad of sounds that had been assaulting him lately. Davis couldn't imagine how hard it would be to tune stuff out from Metropolis and beyond, but he managed to do it.

"I...there's two people in here. I smell Nell's perfume and cheap cologne so I guess Jonathan is in here too."

"I'm impressed," Jonathan noted. "I'm sorry about your accident, Clark. If not for you and Davis, we'd both be dead. I didn't wish you harm."

Clark turned his head to the sound and Davis could see him steady himself. "Just to send me away. I'm happy to be of service. I'd have saved anyone. Believe it or not, it's what we do."

"So I've realized," he said, walking forward and shaking Davis's hand first.

The Beast howled again and Davis had to blink back the red film beginning to spread across his vision. If he changed shapes here, he'd tear them all apart, and he wouldn't be a murderer.

"Davis?" his mom asked, her voice colored with concern.

"Fine. I'm fine," he said, backing up and letting Jonathan move to his brother.

When Jonathan got within three feet of Clark, his brother screamed and fell to the floor, curling himself into the fetal position.

"Clark!" his mom screamed, kneeling beside him. "What did you do?"

Jonathan shrugged and pulled out Nell's pendant from his pocket. It was shining a bright green, pulsating with what Davis realized must have been the rhythm of Clark's heart. The older man took a step forward and Clark's veins started to go black.

Davis had had enough. He was on the other man in a second, pushing him twenty feet across the room, thrilled by the sound of the plaster crumbling from the wall Jonathan hit. "You're leaving. You come back and I'll take care of you myself."

Jonathan frowned between Davis and the meteor rock but didn't tarry. Grabbing Nell, he rushed out of the house.

"Clark?" his mom asked. "Clark, baby, are you okay?"

"Ugh," he said, sitting up and he was still sweating a little, still a little green.

"Baby?"

"No, I...I'm fine, I swear. It just burned." He quirked his head up at Davis and his shades were slightly askew. "You didn't fall. I heard you throw Jonathan across the room."

"It didn't hurt," he said. "I didn't feel a thing. If I'd known, I'd have stopped him from even touching you."

"But you hurt last time," he said, adjusting his glasses so that they obscured the cataracts again. "You can't hurt from it now?"

"I don't know."

_Chloe_

"Martha, I'm sure if he's not on the estate he'll be here soon with like a rabbit or a carnation bundle, possibly both. I promise you when I see him, I'll let him in to sleep it off. Dad's in Gotham on an interview and I was spending the weekend at home where there's better food. Yes, I'll watch him. God, I can't believe Jonathan did that. How's Clark? Uh-huh. Right, if you see Davis first, let me know. Alright, good night," Chloe finished, hanging up the phone.

She sighed and played with her spaghetti. It was going to be a long night.

It took The Beast-Davis-about two hours to show up at her door. He had a deer with him and Chloe banged her head against the table. Her dad would be home tomorrow night. She'd have to get Davis or Clark to move it.

Wait, not Clark. She kept forgetting he wasn't what he was.

The scritching at the door made her think that she just needed to get a very, very large doggie door.

Opening it up for him, she smiled. "Leave the deer and come in. At least you'll spend time with me like this."

The Beast glared up at her and she was so used to it by now it barely fazed her. If this was Davis, then so be it. "Chloeeeee."

"Yes, we established this. Come in Davis; I promise I won't bite."

She was mildly amused to find Davis the next morning at the foot of her bed. Naked. It was a nice view, but she felt a smidge guilty staring at him (just a smidge). Tossing her comforter over him, she coughed.

"Davis?"

He sat up and blinked back at her. Looking down at his covered lap, he sighed. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"Perfect gentleman, even brought me a gift but, uh, could you either prep the deer for the freezer or get rid of it. I can't explain that to my dad."

"Oh for fuck's sake."

"It was sweet in a very you way. At least The Beast will hang out with and talk to me."

"Ouch, duly noted."

"Davis, we can make this work, you know. I've really missed you."

"Clark said as much."

"Well anyone with eyes would...oh crap, you know what I meant."

He nodded and wrapped the quilt tighter around his lap. "It's alright. He's not here to feel offended. I know you didn't mean it."

"It's true though. I've been obvious about it. I miss you."

"I just came to your door like an overgrown mastiff and brought you a deer. This is not a conventional relationship."

"I don't want one."

"Chlo, drop it."

She sighed and gathered her knees to her chest. "I don't suppose you have a reason why you changed? Was there a catalyst? Extra stress perhaps?"

"Jonathan visited yesterday. He hurt Clark."

"Nothing hurts Clark."

"The meteor rocks do, apparently. At the speech it wasn't a fluke. That broach Nell wears hurts him."

"It made you sweat and wince too."

"No, it doesn't anymore. I didn't feel a thing. I...I think it's like the heat vision. I get hurt once or even not at all and I'm just resilient. Whatever it does to Clark it's not doing to me."

She frowned, trying to figure it all out in her mind, put the pieces together. "Wow. We can work on that."

He shrugged. "Nothing to work on. I'm glad the rocks can't hurt me. It made Clark's veins turn back and Jonathan knows it. There's tons of that crap in Smallville. It's a miracle he's not been injured on patrol. I just...it was terrifying. Once the rock was out of range, he was fine. But I swear he was screaming like his body was on fire."

Chloe reached out and stroked one bare shoulder. "What do you think Jonathan is going to do, now that he knows?"

"Nothing good, Chlo, nothing good."


	22. Chapter 22

**22**

_Clark _

Clark sighed and scratched his nose. Then, bringing his knees up to his chest, he sighed and leaned his head against the wall behind him. One week. One week ago, he'd been normal for him. Now everything was shifting, like standing on quicksand. He couldn't see, was smart enough to realize that, barring a miracle, he'd never see again. His senses had been going crazy all week, trying to compensate. His hearing and sense of smell were at levels he could never explain to a human being. He wasn't even sure Davis could perceive the way he did. Even air currents explained so much to him. He laughed bitterly to himself, alone in his room. Between the completely useless floating and the way his skin just understood the language of air currents, it was almost like he was made to fly.

Crazy wasn't it?

Not that it mattered now. He'd at least gotten to the point where he wasn't breaking things, but he'd never be what he was. He'd never be The Blur, helping to protect the world around him. He didn't even realize how much patrol meant to him now that he faced a life without it. Now he had these gifts-even if the heat and acute vision he'd once had were gone-but no safe way to use them.

Wasted.

He had to start back to school soon. Met U had been understanding of his accident (they'd claimed some steam burns from a boiler in the estate's basement had malfunctioned), and we're offering to let him finish the semester with the grades he had. Christmas break was only a week off now and he had As in all his classes. Still, Clarks (okay technically his last name was Kent but, really, being officially named Clark Clark would have been horrendous) finished things. They didn't let something like this ruin them. Worse, he didn't want to be here any longer. Mom had put a halt in her campaigning over the last few days, especially since they'd realized that the meteor rocks could not only hurt him but that Jonathan knew about it, just to spend time with him.

It was hurting her in the polls and they needed to win. If Jonathan did, he and Davis would be in Area 51 before they could blink.

Unacceptable. He wasn't having anything worse happen to his brother because he'd fucked up. The other advantage about going back to classes was that he wouldn't be just here where his family, even Grandfather, would worry over him. He was different. He got that. He was hurt. He definitely got that. Hearing the awkward pauses in conversations, the slight sniffles from both Chloe and his mother when they thought he couldn't hear them...it made it a hundred times worse.

So tomorrow morning he'd go back to classes with the help of a new tutor. He'd be allowed to bring several things with him. One was a laptop specially outfitted for him and voice-activated. Another was his ipod, fitted to act as a tape recorder for his classes. The third thing surprised him as he was sitting in his room, moping maybe just a little.

He smelled it first before he felt it, that musky odor that was dog. Before he could ask what was happening, his mom's heels clicked efficiently across his floor and something cold and wet was nuzzling his hand.

"Mom?"

"Baby, do you like him?"

"Him?" he asked, letting out an "oomph" when the dog smashed against his stomach and began to lap at his face. "Oh you're very friendly, aren't you fella. He let his hand slip through the dog's long silky fur. It wasn't thick like a sheepdog but nor was it close shaven like a lab. He wasn't exactly sure what type of seeing eye dog he had. "What's he like mom?"

She paused one beat too long and he knew she was frowning at him, could practically feel it. "His name is Shelby. Grandfather pulled some strings to get you to the top of the placement list. He's from a long line of very accomplished helper Golden Retrievers."

Yeah, that matched about the length and heft of fur he was stroking. Clark could imagine that then. He wondered, idly, how tawny Shelby was. If he was more auburn than gold. He supposed it didn't matter; he'd never see the difference.

"He's very friendly."

He could here the rustle of cloth as his mom nodded. "I thought so. He's exceptionally sociable, even for a dog in his line of work. He wouldn't stop trying to lick me on the ride home."

Clark laughed, imagining his perfectly coiffed mother and the dog trying to lick her to death. Shelby really must be a winner. His mom probably would have skinned a lesser dog. Stroking his new friend's ears (after some effort to find them), Clark smiled toward where his mother's voice had come. He hoped it was in her general direction. "Thanks mom. He's really great."

Shelby as if on cue, hopped off his lap and settled patiently next to him on the bed, setting his head on Clark's knee.

His mom nodded again and he listened patiently as she pulled out his desk chair and took her seat. "Honey, it's the least I could do."

"It means a lot. He's very sweet and I'm sure he'll help a lot, more than the cane once we get him the right harness."

"Have one. I just thought you'd like to get to know him by petting him first. The university knows about him and all accommodations they can are being made. I'm sure between him and Mr. Schwartz, your tutor, you'll be able to keep up with your studies."

He sighed. "It's gonna be harder to keep up with English and Lit I think. Science and math...let's face it, I just need someone to read what we're doing and I'll memorize the rest, no issue. Learning to read braille is going to take time. I mean, so will talking to the computer to type my papers instead of typing them. I...adjustments."

"You'll do it. Your grandfather and I expect nothing less."

He laughed. Yeah, he definitely knew how a Clark would think by now. Excellence no excuses. "I know...just, thanks." He stroked Shelby's head to emphasize his point. "It's nice to have a friend but, uh, what about Davis?" He could feel, even hear, the way blood pumped into his cheeks as he blushed. God his family was so fucked up. He was trying to find the delicate way to ask about if his brother was at risk for eating his seeing eye dog.

Maybe he was an inmate at Belle Reve and this was all a fantasy. Who fucking even knew?

"Honey?"

"Davis...I mean, The Beast hunts. It might hunt Shelby."

She nodded. "We had been talking about it when we put you on the list. We're going to lock him in here with you at night. Davis's room is being moved to the farthest part of the west wing. We're modifying the room that overlooks the cavern system."

"I don't understand?"

"He'll have access into the tunnels and caves adjoining our property. The Beast will have far easier access to them and to the wild, good sized game than to Shelby. I assume it would rather hunt dear with little hassle than makes its way through the mansion and burst through a locked door."

"Hope so," Clark said, muttering. "Davis is okay with moving?"

"He was the one who suggested you get Shelby and that knew the right people to approach in Metropolis from his EMT work. He thinks this is very important for you."

Clark smiled sadly. "He's a good brother. I don't really think he'll hurt Shel, but caution's good. Where is he?"

His mom let out a long sigh. "He's at Chloe's."

Clark was a terrible brother. His first reaction was to pout inwardly at the thought that his brother and Chloe had reconciled. What a selfish bastard that made him. Chloe and he had never and would never be like that, no matter what he wanted. It was unfair for him to become jealous if something truly good had happened for his brother, something that he'd asked Chloe and Davis both to reconsider. "Oh, that's fantastic. I know she missed him. That's good."

"You misunderstood. Chloe and your brother aren't dating, Clark."

"But you said-"

"The Beast went over there and then he told Chloe when he woke up himself in the morning about what Jonathan tried doing to you. They're researching together at the DP. She's trying to figure out as much as she can about the meteor rocks."

"Meteor rocks hurt me, end of story. It's not like they have an Earth counterpoint or a make-up similar to anything science knew about before. It makes sense, really. I don't get though why they hurt Davis the one time with Nell's broach at the announcement but then last night it was fine. I...he heals better than I do."

Long pause. He could see his mother in his mind's eyes, her right fingers twitching for her cigarette. "Clark, I think it's time that we really accept that, as much as you two love each other, as closely related you two are by virtue of being the last of your planet, you're not genetically related."

"Because he's a beast and because all our powers developed differently?"

"Yes, and because he remembers a woman named Faora and all you babbled about for a year solid was Lara. If you are related, I think it's clear you have different mothers."

He grinned. "Nah, we have one mom and she's the best."

His mom laughed. "You're very charming, Clark. Anyway, whatever Davis actually is, he heals better than anyone I've ever seen. Even if something hurts him once, he adapts. We can tell you aren't like that."

"Wonder how that even works," he said, sighing and raking a hand through is hair. "It's really hard not even having a name for what I am, mom. Davis has to feel the same way. 'The Beast' isn't exactly a real name."

"Honey, I know and I can't begin to understand how frustrated you are."

"Kyla said that there was a constellation for where the Naman came from. There's a group of stars in the shape of a wolf's head but where we're from...that star's gone out. I...when I have nightmares, everything's burning, the sky's choked with smoke."

"Clark?"

He shook his head and was oddly grateful he could no longer cry, no longer had tear ducts. "I've been thinking about it for a long time now, especially with what Kyla told me. I don't think where we're from exists anymore. I know we always..._ I _always thought when I was afraid I shifted that I'd been sent away for being defective. I don't think it's true. I think we were sent away because everything was dying."

"From nightmares? Clark, baby, there could be so many more of your people out there. There's no reason they won't just land tomorrow, do you understand that. There's no need to torture yourself with the most isolating, horrible scenario you can think of."

"Where are they mom?"

"Excuse me?"

He sighed and stroked Shelby some more. "It's been seventeen years, almost. If they were coming to save us or reunite with us or whatever, they'd have done it by now even if there's this weird outside shot this is some coming of age vision quest thing. They haven't. I think Davis and I really are alone in this."

The chair squeaked across the floor and soon soft hands were grabbing his own. "You'd never be alone. I'd never let you, either of you."

He nodded. "I've been thinking of declaring my major, you know. I don't have to for another year, I know that. I want it to be in astrophysics. I don't have any interest in the law, you know that."

"Clark-"

"I don't. I might double major in that and journalism. I like journalism but I want answers. Mom, I can't go through the rest of my life without even a name for what I am. It hurts too much."

"You're my son. You're Clark Kent."

"I'm someone else too. I...I don't know why The Beast is obsessed with my name but I think it's true. I think that I _am _Kal-El for whatever it's worth. I need to know as much as I can about where we fell from. Christ, just a name."

She stiffened. "Think it over before you declare. At least wait until after the election and when everything's not so heightened."

"Because you and grandfather want one of us at the firm."

"No," she said, her voice quiet and strained. "Because it's foolish Clark. You going into that field...the insights you could bring to it just based on how your mind works, on your genius? It would be like painting a bull's eye on your back."

"I need to know, mom. I can't live in the dark forever," he said, giving a small snort. Gesturing to his sunglasses, he shrugged. "I mean, I can live in the dark forever and probably will but intellectually I won't. I am going to figure out who we are and where we come from if it's the last thing I do. It might be the only way we'll ever really figure it out."

His mom squeezed his left wrist. "Figure out what?"

"How to save Davis. I...haven't you noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

"It's escalating. He's changed more in the last two years than in the first fifteen put together. If I don't figure out what we are and how to stop his shifting, I'm afraid he won't be around much longer."

His mom kissed his cheek and sighed. "Baby, I think you're just counting wrong."

"I can't count wrong. It's hard wired into me to be impossible."

"I...just get to know Shelby more tonight, and don't borrow trouble. Besides, you have Chemistry first thing in the morning." That was all she said as she slipped out of his room and down the hall. However, perking up his ears, it was easy for him to hear his mother when she reached her office slipping the scotch off the shelf and pouring a glass, then another.

A third.

She'd noticed too after all.

_Davis _

He had to smile when he walked into his brother's room after Clark's return to Met U. He'd taken a rugged schedule over Sunday and Monday in order to have the night off and all of Tuesday. He wanted time to see how Clark was adjusting to his new fluffy companion. Grinning broadly, Davis clasped his brother on the shoulder. "Hey, how was the triumphant return."

"Meh, we're doing endothermic reactions. Lab was too easy, thus boring. I don't think Shelby's thrilled with how noxious everything in the lab is-me neither-but he was well-behaved. Only problem is that you'd think college kids would know better. I must have had twenty girls pet him and have to remind them politely he was on the clock."

Davis laughed and released his brother's shoulder. Still standing, he shrugged even if Clark couldn't see it. "So, you're biggest problem is that Shelby is a chick magnet. Oh to be you, Clark."

His brother laughed and released Shelby from his harness. Around the manor, he was more than fine with his cane and his own heightened senses. "Would you like to pet him?"

"Oh I've known him a while," Davis replied, stroking the golden's head. "A friend of mine is the trainer and I've met a lot of his guys over the last few years. He even asked once if I wanted to foster but, you know, with our household-"

"Puppies seemed like a bad idea."

Davis sighed, thinking about what his other half tended to do with animals. It was only the hope that fresh and easy access to prey with is modified underground exit to the hunting ground would keep him from pursuing something less appealing and harder to get to than the deer his mother supplied him. "I'm sorry."

"Why? It used to be me we thought could change. You thought I ate your dog for years, Davis, and never made me feel like shit over it. We'll keep Shel safe. You're not a monster."

"Neither are you," he admitted.

Clark sighed. "Good to know, sometimes. Yeah, I'm sure people will start to realize that Shelby isn't allowed to be touched when he's leading me around. I felt bad having to be stern with people over it."

"You feel bad any time you have to be anything other than accommodating. You're a nice guy," he replied, pulling out the desk chair and straddling it, leaning his chin on its back. "Still, were the girls hot?"

Clark laughed. "They all sounded very pretty for what it's worth. Kind of pointless though?"

"Because you're blind?"

"No, because I'm an alien. I mean, you have the perfect girl for you and when you figure that out, you'll both end up happily married after she gets her Pulitzer, of course."

"Yeah, with a litter of baby beastlings. Totally realistic, Clark."

"Better than me trying to find that one _other _girl in a million who doesn't mind dating the handicapped superalien." Clark sighed and started fidgeting, taking his fingers and cracking his knuckles one by one. "What are we even doing here?"

"School and work?"

"No, I mean, what's the point of all of this? What's the point of mom even running. Maybe we're better off being turned over somewhere."

"You don't really believe that."

"I guess not," he replied but from his tone, Davis could tell even Clark wasn't sure his real feelings on the situation. "I don't want us cut up into little pieces, no. If anything ever happened to you-"

"Feeling's mutual squirt."

"Yeah, but we don't really fit here. I don't even want to cheerlead you and Chlo, believe me I don't, but you at least have a shot at someone who loves you, spikes and all. I thought I had shot once or twice but Alicia and Kyla both turned out to be insane. Even if I weren't an alien, fuck, who wants to date the blind guy."

"Not very PC of you," Davis said, his tone hardening. "Squirt, you're not even nineteen yet. You don't have to worry about girlfriends and picket fences yet."

"Yeah, I know. I just...why does every day have to be so hard?"

"Luck of the draw. At least we have each other. If I were alone in this, even if we're not the same, uh..." Davis trailed off, unsure if saying the last word out loud would upset his brother or not.

"Species?" Clark finished, his tone clipped. "Yeah, there is that. If I were alone in this, I'd have gone bonkers by now. I just get lonely."

"Me too!"

"Chloe loves you."

"Chloe's eighteen and hasn't ever dated anyone but me. She needs to grow a little."

"If you lose her-"

"I'm supposed to. My life..._ I'm _not a fairy tale here. I don't get the good stuff. Spikey, red eyed monster remember?"

"You're the best person I know."

"Awww, that's nice, but it's not enough. You know Chloe. She deserves everything she's ever wanted."

"Uh-huh," Clark said nonchalantly. "Fine. Maybe I shouldn't bring up love lives anymore."

Davis laughed and stroked Shelby's head again. "Oh one day I'll set you up. I'm sure we can find someone for you. Metropolis is a huge city."

"Yeah, auction me off. Tell them I'm tall, dark, and E.T."

"Well I can't tell them you're handsome, after all. We all know I'm the better looking brother, even with the saber teeth."

Clark tossed a pillow at Davis and he was shocked when it hit him full force in the face, causing feathers to explode everywhere. His stunned silence was interrupted by Clark sitting forward a bit on his bed and frowning. "Davis?"

"You hit me."

"I tossed a pillow wildly in your direction. Don't humor me."

"No, you hit me square in the nose and it _hurt _. How did you?"

"I just focused in on where you could hear me. I...cool, guess I got lucky."

Davis frowned. "Remind me about this after the election in January. I have an idea."

"Sure, we'll pillow fight later," Clark snarked. "What happens if mom loses?"

"She won't; she's mom. Mom never loses."

"If she does. Her numbers are still behind Jonathan's. People don't like her as much as salt of the Earth bullshit. A lot of kids on campus think she's a frigid bitch."

"They would. Jonathan's a hick moron."

"I'm serious. If he wins and they believe him, we'll have to run."

Davis growled, despite his shape, and for a second his world was red. Blinking, Davis forced his anger aside and pushed The Beast back down. "We'll never run, squirt. Not ever. I won't give him the fucking satisfaction of it."

"If the military listens and hunts us down...they _can _hurt me, Davis. They can cut me into pieces even if they can't you and Jonathan knows exactly how to do that."

"I promise. He won't, not ever."

Clark sighed. "Your voice sounds weird. You're not changing are you?"

Davis took a few deep breaths, forcing whatever changes to his jaw and teeth to undo themselves. When he thought he could speak normally, he answered. "No, I'm not, but no one touches you, alright? Now, start thinking of ways to use Shelby to get a date to the firm's New Year's Ball." Clark laughed.

"What's so funny."

Clark leaned down and, despite the fact that Shelby had shifted positions several times since Davis had come in, including sitting by him at the desk, his brother was able to pat the golden's back without issue. Clark might have been blind but the rate at which his other senses-for it had to be his ability to hear and to place Shelby's heartbeat and breath in the room that allowed him to pet him so seamlessly-were compensating was phenomenal. Yeah, Davis was definitely bustling with ideas.

"Davis, it's just, between the three of us, Shelby's the chick magnet."

"Meh, I still have the better canines."

_Chloe _

Despite the ugly nature of the election and the stress from watching Martha close in, inch-by-inch on the polls, despite all of that, this holiday season was one of the best Chloe had ever had. Her dad had gotten a new job that month in Gotham, working for Wayne Industries and would be moving to Gotham proper at the new year. He was going to be working directly under Lucius Fox at, of all places, the R and D department. The company wasn't what it had been under Thomas Wayne; it had waned so to speak under Mr. Earle's control and was struggling to get better under the returned (and often drunk) Bruce Wayne. However, it was a million times better than working for the now late Lionel Luthor. No late nights, no travel to Asia, no butt monkey duties. Her dad was getting to legitimately use his engineering knowledge to help Mr. Fox and he was already excited, babbling all Christmas about his ideas.

Chloe was just glad to be able to have her dad around more, even if him being gone so much had been advantageous, especially when dead deer ended up on her doorstep.

Clark amazed her. His resilience floored her every time she saw him. She wasn't even sure if _he _realized he was doing things no blind person should be able to do. Davis had a theory that he'd confided to her that if Clark really worked on focusing his three most honed senses-the hearing, the smell, and, especially, his ability to feel air currents-that he might be able to compensate well enough to run again. To patrol again.

Chloe didn't dare hope. Something like that would make Clark happy beyond belief. Damn it, he deserved it with all the luck he had had.

Still, Clark was happy and relaxed. She thought a lot of that had to do with his furry companion. Clark would have done well with a pet all along, if he hadn't had to live in mortal fear of killing it (and then of Davis doing the same).

She was standing out on the balcony of the hotel ballroom that _Clark, Thurston, and Howell _had rented out for its annual New Year's Bash for its clients. Chloe was wearing a simple dress from Macy's, a plain violet number. She didn't have a date, didn't want one. There was only one person she wanted to dance with and he was currently off working third shift on New Year's Eve, ever the hero.

"You're interesting, Chloe Sullivan."

She quirked her head and watched Mr. Clark as he walked, cane at his side, to stand by her and look down at the traffic below. "Hi, Mr. Clark."

"William."

"Since when?"

"Since now," he said, sighing. "Martha and you have had a tough relationship."

"Understatement. I think we understand, if not respect, each other now. We both want to keep Clark and Davis safe; we both love them."

"Agreed, and I can't say that you haven't disappointed us sometimes. What happened the summer Clark ran away was horrible."

"I know."

"But you're a good girl, Chloe, and you've grown into a good woman. Martha needs you more than she realizes."

"Mr. Clark?" she asked, turning to look up at him. "Is there something I don't know about?"

He sighed. "My cardiologist called. I'll need a triple bypass this spring. I'm seventy-five years old, Chloe. I'm not going to be here much longer."

"That's maudlin."

"That's realistic and you know this."

"Compared to Davis still being only twenty-three, yeah, I know you can't be here to protect them forever."

He shook his head and gestured to Martha who was working the floor even now, raising money from her biggest donors. "I worry about her of all of them. She's given everything for them; they're her world."

"Believe me, as someone who had to fight tooth and nail to get accepted into it, I know this."

"You have to take care of her too, even if she won't allow it."

Chloe sighed. "Mr. Clark, I'm sure it'll be fine. You have some time yet before all the good byes."

"You'll still look after all of them, won't you?"

"I'd be honored. Now, my favorite of your grandsons is out on a call and the other is working over the buffet."

"Your point?"

"I'd like someone from the Clark family to dance with me," she said, holding out a crooked arm. "William Clark, esquire, will you do me the privilege?"

He smiled and gave her hand a polite kiss. "The pleasure is all mine."

_Martha _

It was the night before the election. Most polls had them in a dead heat. Analysts couldn't call it. She had fuck all clue what would happen. It wasn't that she hadn't done everything she could. Negative ads were hard to run when Jonathan didn't have any dirt on him. She had her skeletons but Clarks knew how to bury their mistakes, so Jonathan had nothing on her except the one thing he was saving for when he had the Kansas state guard under his control.

Fat chance she'd ever let that happen.

Still, it was in the voters' hands tomorrow. The fate of her children and it was all up to a vote.

So when Jonathan called and asked her to meet him at the Ace of Clubs for a talk, she was more than shocked. They had nothing left to say to each other.

When she got there, she found him nursing a Budweiser. She wasn't shocked. Sitting down at their table, she barked an order for the waiter to give her a scotch, straight. Some of them had taste. Turning to Jonathan, she frowned. "What do you want?"

"What do you want, Martha?"

"I want you to concede in a dream scenario so that my sons can be safe. I don't think that's going to happen."

He laughed and took a sip. "No, it's not."

"Do they scare you that badly?"

"Davis...I was wrong, wasn't I? All those years ago. He's the one that grows spikes, isn't he? I _saw _his eyes go red when I visited your estate. I swear his teeth were growing too before he forced it to reverse."

"Does it even matter?"

"It's just interesting what I've gotten wrong over the years, doesn't make Clark any less dangerous. I'm not a whiz at it, but I can google and I can remember things."

"Do tell."

"Gotham City, summer over two years ago. That was Clark wasn't it? Davis was already working as an EMT by then in Metropolis but the things that the masked bandit did there. Clark can do them-that speed, the whatever it was with his eyes."

"Clark's not dangerous to anyone, except himself. He hurt himself. You've seen him at our debates since. He has to work hard to get through his day and do his work and that's with a seeing eye dog, a cane, and his family helping him. Whatever happened in Gotham, it would never happen again."

"Because someone's looking out for the human race and he maimed himself. His strength is terrifying, Martha, but Davis scares me infinitely more. How can you even pretend he's your son."

"He _is _my son, always has been and you never understood that. I'm going to win Jonathan, and then I'm going to bury everything you've ever even thought about my sons. You aren't going to be some hero and turn them over to the government to be tortured to death."

"Can they die?"

"You'll never get to find out," she said, draining her glass and throwing down a hundred. "Goodnight, Jonathan. I can't wait to win tomorrow."

"You don't know that you will."

"I know that you can't."

"Because I'm a hick?"

"Because my boy have survived too much tragedy for a piece of shit like you to land them in a lab. Goodnight."

"The meteor rocks can wound Clark badly, maybe kill him."

She stopped and glared at him. "Are you ready to murder a boy, a handicapped one no less, to feed your paranoia."

"One who brought the Gotham P.D. and even The Batman to their knees. Just because they look human, Martha...they never were. How can you not see that if we don't stop them now, especially Davis, a lot of people are going to die."

She stiffened, figuring that explaining about Davis's occasional diet of fresh deer wasn't going to assuage Jonathan's fears. "My sons aren't killers. They've made their share of mistakes, but they're good men and you and Nell would both be dead if they weren't. If it had been up to me? I'd have let you both get shot."

"Then I'm glad they're at least kinder than you, not that it's saying much."

"If you win tomorrow, if the impossible comes to pass, I won't let you touch my boys. I'll kill you first."

"Is that a threat?"

She shook her head and laughed. "You never really knew me. Jonathan, it's not a threat. It's a _promise _. Concede now, it'll be easier."

"Bitch."

"Exactly," she said, sauntering out the door.

She didn't understand what the doctors were telling her. She didn't understand anything. Two hours ago, she'd won the election. An hour ago, Davis had found her father dead in the alley behind their election headquarters. Just now, the doctors were asking her to double check the identification at the morgue and to sign over the right papers for return of the body.

What the hell was her father even doing there?

"Mom?" Clark asked, frowning. He had Shelby at his right side, clinging to his harness. He was focusing on her. She was getting used to that gesture in him now, the way he held his head cocked, his right ear toward her. He was listening to figure out all he could about her, about her reactions and her emotions. It was how he perceived the world now.

"I...I need to go with the M.E. and Detective Sawyer, alright?"

A large hand grabbed her shoulder, no issues. Her boy was getting so good at his new situation. "Mom, let me come with you. You shouldn't be alone right now."

"I...you shouldn't see this, sweetheart."

Clark smiled sadly. "Can't anyway. Mom, please, you need me to be here for you. Davis had to stay at the scene and talk to the officers since he found grandfather. Let me stay with you, please. Well, me and Shel."

She nodded, feeling dizzy, unsure if her strong boy wasn't supporting her if she wouldn't just sink right there and never get up. "Of course."

He leaned over and hugged her, gently. Always gentle her boy. "Mom, it's going to be okay."

Of course it would, she'd make sure of it.

Clark was helping Chloe in Gotham that weekend after the funeral. She had four days before she took office, but she was encouraging Clark to help Chloe as much as he could publicly with her move. It was best her boy wasn't here when her father's stuff was moved to storage. It'd upset him. He could at least help moving small things at his friend's father's new apartment.

She was through her fourth scotch, trusting her staff to do what was needed (she couldn't bear to box up daddy's things on her own), when Davis entered into her office. He frowned at how empty her bottle was, but said nothing about it. She wouldn't have cared if he had. The last week had been pure Hell. Her father...they'd had a complicated relationship and she'd almost lost all contact with him over Jonathan of all people. In the almost seventeen years since she'd come back to him, it had been him and her against the world. She wasn't sure she could protect her boys without his support. It was so much to weather alone.

"Mom?" Davis asked, setting his work bag on the sofa in her office. "I have something I have to tell you."

"Did you shift again?" she asked, tone even.

"No, this is something different," he said, sitting down next to her. Without a word, he took her scotch from her and handed her a wallet. "I found this in the sewer grate by where grandfather was found. I could smell it."

She frowned. "Smell it?"

"I..." he blushed a little, and she sighed, patting his hand.

"Your gift, sweetheart. You and Clark both have incredibly senses of smell."

"Mom I rushed out to find grandfather when we couldn't find him and instead i found that. It's Jonathan's. I knew the instant I got a whiff of it." His eyes flared red and she forced herself to keep her breathing even. Davis was her son, and she loved both sides of him-beast and man. He wouldn't hurt her.

"What?" she asked, opening the wallet. Indeed, everything was his from the photo of him and Nell and their twin sons (born only three years ago, following Lana's murder at the hands of Greg Arkin of Smallville) to his credit cards and driver's license. "I don't understand."

"He was the last person to see grandfather alive. There were abrasions and grandfather's right knuckles. I think he tried to punch him, maybe even got one good slam off based on the condition of his hand and it set off his heart condition."

"What?" she couldn't focus. What her son was saying was impossible.

"I...that's not the worst of it. I don't know how he got these, but..." he said, pulling out two photos. One was of Clark at the final debate, his fingers gouging into the metal of the auditorium seat. Nell had to have done it. The second image, she'd never know how he'd managed it, how he'd gotten it at all. It was of Davis, on the estate on the grounds by his window shifting.

"He was going to fuck it all to hell, even though he'd knew he lost. He was going to use what he and Nell got on both of you and just go public anyway, stir up enough panic and fear of you, especially, to get the government involved regardless."

"Then why confront grandfather with it?"

"I don't know what he thought he'd get out of it, maybe double cross, feign the blackmail and get the seat and then back stab us anyway. Nell would certainly do that."

"I'm sorry mom. I waited til after the funeral to do this. Jonathan has to have realized by now he fucked up. He might still be convinced no one found the wallet cause I hid it and the pics from the cops, but he has to know he's lost the files he had. I know he has back ups, but he must be contemplating how to move forward without incriminating himself as the last one to see grandfather alive."

"He _was _the last one. Guilty as sin, but, you're right. It won't stop him long."

"Mom, I'm sorry. I can run. I...Clark you could maybe hide as a meteor mutant, spare him Belle Reve with your pull in the senate now." He sighed and pointed at the picture of himself. "You can't explain that away. I'm half way and it's obvious what I'm turning into is horrific." His voice wasn't bitter or angry, just calm, matter of fact.

She understood that. No one knew The Beast as she and Chloe did. They'd not get that it could be contained.

"You're not running."

"What?"

"Neither of you is going anywhere. I'll figure it out. No one's going anywhere, except maybe Jonathan."

"Mom-"

"I'll fix it," she said, reaching over to her table and draining her scotch, quickly grabbing the decanter and pouring her fifth shot. "I always fix it."

Martha eased her way into Davis's room, glad that he was as heavy a sleeper as his brother, if not moreso. She was also glad Clark was several states away. If he were here, she'd never be able to do this. Hell, she wasn't even sure if it would work. Sitting on the floor by Davis's bed, she leaned toward him and whispered in his right ear:

"Jonathan Kent has to go."

Davis yawned and she froze, unsure of how to explain this if he woke. Waiting, breathless for five long beats, she finally exhaled when Davis rolled over and began to snore softly. Leaning back, she started again."

"I know you. Two things drive you more than anything. The Beast wants blood. It always has. It wants more than deer or elk or rabbits and always will. Take Jonathan's, you can already smell it, already wanted it when he was here. You, Davis, you want Clark safe. It's why you killed Kyla, why you threatened Alicia." Inching closer to her son, praying he never figured out what she was doing, Martha whispered her command.

Two ugly yet simple words.

_Kill him _.

_Davis _

When he opened his eyes, he knew what had happened.

He was blinking awake in the middle of a corn field, one slicked with blood. Breathing in deeply, Davis froze. He'd been aware of his hunts for a year now. He knew the difference instinctively between blood scents. He wasn't covered in deer or rabbit or even skinwalker.

It was _human _.

"Oh god," he said, leaning over and throwing up. Seeing the chunks of flesh made him vomit again, vomit and retch until his stomach burned and only bile came up. He shivered and stepped back from it. That was all that remained of whomever he'd eaten. Naked as the day he'd landed, covered in blood from head to toe, Davis sped home. He showered forever, water hotter than a human could have taken it, scorching and raw. He didn't leave until he ran ice cold and he felt too tired and heavy to stay standing.

Slipping on his favorite pair of scrubs, Davis sat on his bed, unsure of what to do. He couldn't tell his mother. She'd just lost his grandfather and had to figure out how to keep Jonathan Kent from ruining them all. He wouldn't dump this on her. He couldn't. Alaska beckoned. It was cold and rugged, an environment that appealed to him on a level he couldn't understand anymore than Clark could understand why he loved bracelets so or had been obsessed with Chloe's corsage so long ago.

An alien thing.

A them thing.

He'd run there and lose himself deep in the wilderness now, no longer be their problem, anyone's problem. The only thing that would have to worry about The Beast would be the wild prey, the polar bears and reindeer. He'd stick far from humans. He had to now. Davis was so lost in thought that it took six rings before he realized Chloe (he'd preprogrammed her with the theme from "All The President's Men" on his cell) was calling. Hands shaking, he took the phone and pressed on.

"Chloe? Hey, uh, how's moving?"

"Davis, god, have you seen the news?"

"I don't understand," he said, keeping his tone light. The scent on him had been just one person. He'd only killed one. There couldn't be mass murder massacres on the news. He'd know.

"Turn on CNN, now."

"Chlo?"

"Do it!"

Shaking his head, he grabbed his remote and flipped on the TV. Stunned, he watch as the news looped about the murder of Jonathan Kent at his home in Smallville. The details were modest, but Davis could fill in what they weren't saying. The attack, and the Smallville authorities were deeming it the work of that rogue wolf pack they'd had problems with three years prior, had left little of the body intact, if the widow hadn't witnessed it all, it might have taken days to wait for the DNA evidence to come back. Nell was unresponsive and had been rushed to Fairview Sanitarium.

He was still blinking numbly at the screen. The FCC wouldn't allow blood stains and other things on air but he could hear Nell's moans as she was carted off, here the twins' screaming.

He'd always hear it.

"Chloe?"

"Oh Davis, what did you do?"

_Clark _

Three weeks.

It took three weeks before he caught Davis attempting to leave the manor. In those three weeks, Jonathan-what was left of him and good riddance-had been buried. Nell had been permanently committed as far as Chloe's records hacking could tell, and his children sent to live with his cousins in Minnesota. His mother had been sworn in and his grandfather's estate settled, his clothes and other mementos packed in deep storage away from the manor. He'd kept going to school, numb on the inside, only excelling with his eidetic memory working overtime.

Chloe had called Davis every hour almost that first day after breaking the news to him. Then they'd gotten into a horrific fight over their cells, the shouting enough to make Clark's ears ache, and she'd burst into tears in front of Clark, telling him she'd tried but she couldn't...Davis would have to call her when he could be civil with her, that she was only trying to help until they could get back from Gotham. Then she'd stuck to school and weekends at her father's.

Clark wasn't sure if it was fear of what Davis had done or if it was because he'd been so sharp with her. Knowing Chloe, it was the latter.

But he still wasn't a hundred percent positive she wasn't terrified now of his brother.

Clark wasn't even sure how _he _felt about his brother. Davis didn't control The Beast. He couldn't. It wasn't how it worked and never had been. It was convenient frankly that Jonathan was dead and Nell would never be rational again, their secret safely buried again but at a fearsome price, not just for the Kent family but for his brother's humanity. He loved Davis, would do anything for him, but he wasn't sure where they went from here now that his brother had taken a human life. He'd skated that line so closely with Kyla's murder but now it was done.

The Beast had tasted human blood.

Things could never be the same for it.

But leaving wasn't the answer either.

"Davis, stop."

His brother dropped his duffle bag with a loud thump of fallen cloth, and Clark assumed he was being glared at. "Clark, let me go."

Clark was alone. He'd camped out in the tunnel by Davis's room every night for twenty-one days, waiting, straining his hearing and his other senses. This was not something Shelby could help him with or his cane even. It had been almost two months since he'd lost his sight and, while Davis had become busy, mired in the tragedy of their winter, Clark had never stopped honing his senses.

Never stopped practicing.

Davis started to move, Clark felt the way the air displaced as his brother stepped to the right. Clark went left and they began to circle each other, his brother's heart hammering faster as he realized exactly what Clark could do.

"I can't do that. You _can't _leave."

Davis stopped, the sound of his feet splashing in the puddle stopping. Clark stopped too. Davis feinted left, Clark followed the sound of his steps and the feel of the wind, matching him, move for move and step for step.

"Clark?"

"I don't need to see. I'm not what I was, I know that, but don't test me, Davis."

"Or what? What are you gonna do? Even when you had heat vision, you couldn't touch me." His brother was off then, racing down the tunnel and Clark surged after him, the sound of his brother's heart and his scent-fed by sweat-telling him where to find him while the flow of the air around him kept Clark from running into anything. He wasn't sure how far they'd run, but they'd long since left even the sounds of the estate, then Metropolis, even Gotham and New York behind them. When he finally was close enough to grab Davis, he could feel the cold around him. They gone North.

Clark wasn't shocked.

Grabbing his brother's shoulder, Clark brought Davis into a headlock, holding him there. Davis was invulnerable but Clark was stronger, at least for a while longer.

"Let me go Clark!"

The wind howled around them, disorienting him a bit, but Clark held on, keeping a grip for dear life. If he lost Davis, he might never chase him down again. "Davis, please, stop."

His brother bucked and shouted, almost but not quieting tossing him off. "Fuck! Let me go, Clark, I swear."

"Swear what!" Clark shouted, his words half stolen by the wind whipping past them. "You can't leave me. I won't let you leave me."

"I'm a killer. I can't stay, Clark. That's my line. I took a human life," his brother's tone was plaintive, close to tears. "I can't stay because I'll kill you and Chloe and mom. I can't do that."

Clark pulled hard, bringing his brother stumbling into the snow beneath them. Clark stayed standing, put pushed hard on both of Davis's shoulders. His brother wasn't going anywhere.

"You can't leave. I don't care, alright?" he shouted. "I should care, believe me I should, but I don't. I cannot, absolutely cannot do this without you. Davis, if you leave me, I won't make it. Do you understand. I can't be the only one of us. I _can't _do it."

Davis swore lividly and took in several shuddering breaths, no longer fighting Clark's grasp. "_ Kal-El _we're not brothers. Do you get that? We never were. You're someone separate from me and I'm Faora and Zod's, alright? Fuck, we're not even the same species. I'm some kind of animal."

"If it were me? It was supposed to be for years, for what felt like forever and I only knew a fraction of the time. If it were me, would you let me go?" Clark asked, his grip never loosening.

Davis was silent for a long time, as if he was picking his words. "Never, but I have to protect you, you're younger. You're just 'squirt.'"

"I'm bigger than you are, stronger now at least for a while longer if not forever. Davis, I have to protect you too. We'll figure it out, alright? You can't come up here and fucking hunt polar bears or seals or whatever. You'll never come back. You'll lose yourself."

"I'm already lost."

"No, we'll fix it. We'll find a way to fix it."

Davis tried to stand and Clark pressed hard, wincing when something in Davis's shoulder popped.

Fuck it; it'd heal.

"You can't save me, Clark. You can't."

"I can do anything I want. I can run faster than sound and I can't even see. I can defy gravity and bend steel, and I can save you."

"I-"

"Davis, I don't care if we're not related by blood. I don't give two shits why or how we ended up on the same ship, if our parents are different, our species, if one of us stowed away. I don't care. I'm your brother. You've spent your whole life protecting me, given yup med school for me and I'm going to save you."

"Clark," his brother started, but he could already hear Davis's resolve weakening. He didn't really want to leave. Not just him but mom and Chloe as well.

"Let me save you, Davis, please."

"I murdered a man in cold blood. I shredded him to ribbons and swallowed most of him. Clark, you can't save me," he said, and yet it was plaintive not angry.

Davis wanted to be saved. It was a start.

Dropping to his knees, Clark drew his brother close and hugged him, his grip strong enough to have crushed a normal person to dust. "I'll fix it. You have my word."

Davis didn't say anything but leaned into Clark's grasp, his sobs muted by the wind.


	23. Chapter 23

Title : Cain and Abel

Author : legendarytobes

Rating - NC-17 for violence, gore, talk of suicide and later for sex

Warnings : see above, violent story

Pairing : Chlarkavis with pining!Clark, Clark/Kyla, Clark/Alicia, mentions of Jonathan/Martha

Previous Chapters : Archived at "The Sullivan Chronicles" - ?sid=19

Summary : AU - Martha found both Clark and Davis the day of the shower but divorced Jonathan after he threatened to send them to the military after bizarre cattle mutilations on the farm. Clark and Davis are raised without incident in the luxury and prestige of Metropolis that William Clark, esquire, can provide. All is going well until Chloe Sullivan comes into their lives...

What Happened Last Time: Jonathan confronted William Clark about the boys' alien nature and secrets, causing the lawyer to have a fatal heart attack. In retaliation, Martha set The Beast loose on the Kent family. After Davis realize his other half had killed Jonathan Kent, he tried to run but Clark begged him to stay.

lj-cut text="Growing Pains, Year Five - Shattered Glass"

iA/N – While I am very familiar with the episode Fragile, and the character of Maddie who was about eleven or twelve in the episode, I've decided to age her up to eighteen. I know that's not following cannon, but that's how I decided to roll with it. Again, though it's the same character, not the same age, which, naturally, takes the squick factor down ;) /i

b Davis /b

He didn't know what to do. He felt like everything was crumbling around him. It was an odd sensation to know he'd snuffed out a man's life, torn him apart and ruined his family, and couldn't remember a second of it. It haunted him. As awful as Jonathan had been to them, as big a threat as he'd been, Davis had never really thought the man deserved to die. The Beast in him had been territorial, especially over threats to his brother, but he hadn't ever wanted to take a human life.

Clark had brought him home from somewhere in Alaska, thwarting his plan to disappear and to save his family. It had been three weeks since then. Davis had taken a leave of absence from his job, and Met Gen let him, after he'd claimed he needed time to recover from his grandfather's death. Everyone in Metropolis who was anyone knew his grandfather had raised him, been the role model in his life, and that extended to the head of the hospital. He had two more weeks to collect himself before he was supposed to be back. He didn't know if he could. So far his plan had extended to holing up in his room watching bad day time television, as if that might keep the best at bay.

He really didn't know where to go from here, but at night he had nightmares of bathing in blood. It made him blush to think of them. He never knew whose blood it was-Kyla's, Jonathan's, maybe his family's yet to be spilled-but that didn't matter. It made him feel a rush, something orgasmic and erotic as he'd told Chloe once before. He knew The Beast wouldn't hold forever, that human blood was what it wanted now and deer would never truly satisfy him again. He had to hope he stayed on the confines of the manor anyway. He couldn't...The Beast was a killer and he was not. He saved people.

Damn it, that was what i The Ultimate /i had done in Metropolis for a while now with i The Blur /i at his side.

Clark hoped too much for him. There wasn't much left for him to do or to be. It was all falling apart so hard and one eighteen year old kid and his faith could not keep it together much longer.

Speaking of the devil, Clark blurred into reality in his room, stopping perfectly before he managed to run into the bed. Davis assumed it was more by scent than feel. His heightened abilities leaving him with the discretion and knowledge that he hadn't run all the way into his brother. "Hey! I was hoping I'd catch you."

Davis smiled even if Clark couldn't see it. His brother's ability to adapt floored him. He spent long hours now running around the grounds, practicing to control his speed and hone the senses he had left. While he'd crashed into a few trees in the first week, he hadn't had an accident in the fourteen days after. Davis could tell what his brother was considering. He'd been thinking it for a while as well, ever since he'd had Clark bean him straight on with a pillow.

It was a difficulty, made patrolling more difficult assuredly, but Clark was preparing for i The Blur /i to get back into the action, after being gone since early December.

"So, what's up, squirt."

"I...I'm not going to lecture you about hiding in your room to cope. Even if it wasn't my fault in the end, it's exactly how I felt about Kyla. Still, I have this midterm in biology and I was hoping you could help me."

"You have a photographic memory."

"Yeah, but you're an EMT and know a lot more than I do about this stuff, especially the human anatomy part. I could use your expert eye."

Davis blanched at that. "So, um, about practicals and identifying parts of the body? How does that even work?"

"I couldn't do dissections for obvious reasons. Not exactly a feeling thing. I had a fifteen page term paper option instead to make up for it. I guess being a doctor's out, not that I ever had a yen for medicine."

"What do you want to do? Chloe's working hard at the DP but I haven't really even seen you interested in joining the Met U paper or taking classes in journalism."

Clark sighed and sat down next to him on the bed, reaching out first to make sure he wouldn't be sitting on nothing or fall to the floor. "Actually, mom and I talked about this before election day. I want to go into astrophysics. I need more answers than a ship with symbols we can't read and just hoping. I still don't know what more powers I'll develop, if any, and you don't know how much longer you can tamp down The Beast."

"Tamp down?"

Clark nodded. "You're changing so much more often than you used to. I told mom I'd noticed the pattern. It scares me. Maybe if we figured out where we're from, I don't know. We might learn enough to stop this or to contact home and ask for help."

"That's really far fetched, squirt," Davis said, forcing his voice to stay level. At least Clark couldn't see him begin to sweat, a habit he now only did from nervousness and not exertion, just like his brother. He hadn't realized that his shifting was increasing. It sent a shock of fear lancing through him. What if one day, Clark had once feared, he'd be nothing i but /i The Beast?

"I won't let that happen," his brother said. "I'm not going to lose you to whatever is going on. I'm not going to spend my life not even having a name for what we are."

"So astrophysics is going to solve all your problems?"

"Maybe, maybe not, but I have to try, Davis. It hurts too much. I know I have dreams about everything burning, even before the dark of my ship. I think we weren't sent away because we were defective. I think Kyla pointing out the constellations was right and our star burned out, but I i don't know /i it. Somehow, it plagues me that I might have been so wrong they sent me billions of miles away from them. I...Lara must have been nice, right?"

"You said her name a lot. You seemed really taken with that word. I think so. I...Faora and Zod, what I got from my memories when I was mostly a blank slate, seemed proud of me and what I could do. I dunno. Maybe we're not like the equivalent of an intergalactic mistake."

"But I need to know that. I think I can major in this and maybe go on. There has to be someone somewhere who noticed more about the shower than people are willing to admit to. There has to be answers."

"And if there's not? How disappointed will you be if I keep changing no matter what and you never even have a word for what we are."

"I'll find it," he said, clenching his fist at his sides. "I know I can find it."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, squirt."

"Oh I mean it. However, I needed you to do something for me."

"Do tell."

"I want to ask mom about patrolling Metropolis again. I can do this. I ran all the way to Alaska and caught you. I can start back easy with stopping muggings. I miss being i The Blur /i, and I think it'd do you a world of good to use our abilities to help people again. You're not just The Beast. i The Ultimate /i and i The Blur /i have done a lot of good here and in Smallville."

"I know, but mom's going to freak."

"That's why I need your help," his brother said, giving him a lopsided smirk.

b Martha /b

"No, absolutely not."

"Why?" Clark asked, stroking Shelby's head. "I think this is a good idea."

Martha pursed her lips and shook her head. "You hurt yourself. You permanently scarred yourself the last time you patrolled. You can't possibly think that you can control your abilities without your sight and you can't think something that drastic won't happen again."

"It was my own heat vision," Clark objected quietly. "That's not going to happen again. Besides, ask Davis, I've been honing my hearing and my ability to feel air currents. I can run without actually running into things. I mean, you have no idea how well I can hear and the way I feel things now. Mom this is important to me."

"You'll get more injured. I'm in Topeka through the end of the session in April, basically all week. Grandfather's no longer here as an emergency contact. You're weaker than you were. Never again, Clark. I promised to protect you and I am doing that."

"I'm not going back to being sheltered forever."

"You don't have a choice now."

Clark shook his head and gripped Shelby's harness so hard that something cracked. "I'm not asking, mom, just like when we started patrolling. I'm i telling /i you that. I want to go back to it; it makes me happy."

"And what happens if you get maimed again or killed. We're all we have left with father gone. I can't stand to see either of you hurt."

"Well," Davis replied, his tone measured and even. "I can't even get hurt so that evens it out quite a bit."

Martha sighed and felt her index finger tremble. She wanted a cigarette very badly then, but was out. She had mixed feelings about what she'd done. She could see Davis suffering every day, his fear of what he could do (and what she believed he'd never do to them) warring with his own depression. He'd tried to run. She knew that, though she was unclear on how he'd decided to return. Still, if Jonathan had been allowed to run rampant, Clark and Davis probably both would have been dissected in a lab.

Something needed doing to stop that threat.

She'd done that, protected her boys as best she knew how. Besides, Davis would never know about what she did. It was better that way.

"Clark's...he's vulnerable i and /i younger. It's ridiculous, Davis."

"He came for me, mom."

She blinked. "I don't understand."

"Clark ran after me when I tried to go lose myself in the Arctic. He caught me and he's still stronger than I am. He brought me home."

"That's not possible."

Clark shook his head. "I can do it. Davis will be watching me for what I can't do. I promise. I...either way i The Blur /i and i The Ultimate /i are going to ride again."

"I don't approve. If anything happens-"

"Chloe's the cavalry and she's in town all the time," Davis countered. "If we get into a mess and you can't get back from Topeka, well, she's covered for us before. I loved grandfather, believe me and I miss him every day, but we're not three and seven anymore. We're adults, really, and we can take care of ourselves, cover our tracks."

Sighing, Martha pinched the bridge of her nose. "If anything happens to him, Davis, I'm holding you responsible."

Clark, who'd maintained his composure throughout the meeting, broke into a wide smile and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. "Thanks mom."

Patting his back, she shook her head. "Just don't make me regret it."

b Clark /b

It was weird being back on patrol, he did have to admit that. His outfit had been changed a little. He couldn't wear sunglasses to speed. Losing them somewhere in Canada chasing Davis had proved that to him. Instead, to compliment his short, Zorro like cape, he had a bandanna, this time, one that covered his eyes completely. He'd never worry about heat vision being blocked again, of course. It was also, he admitted a vanity thing, he didn't want people to know he'd been scarred, to see him do inhuman things and look so hideous.

It wouldn't be good.

Currently, they were in The Talon, a routine patrol of Smallville had led them to realize that a man was trying to steal diamonds of all things, hidden in the main stain glass window. It had also been a bit of a one side fight. The man's power was to telekinetically wield glass shards, which, naturally, couldn't cut into them. It didn't take long for Davis to knock him out and for him to bend a piece of the wrought iron railing of the stairs around his ankles.

The perp wouldn't be running off before the police came.

What Clark didn't expect was the girl who'd been with the glass guy and, from the tone of her voice and the smell of her lavender-scented perfume, he realized she couldn't have been much younger than he was. He really hadn't expected her to lay a chaste kiss on his cheek. "My hero."

"I-"

Sirens caught his attention. The police would be there in minutes. Sighing, he reached out, fumbling for her hand and squeezed it. "All in a day's work."

With that, he and Davis blurred off into the night. And if Clark was nursing a tiny bit of a crush, that wasn't so wrong was it?

b Chloe /b

"Hey Davis, what's up?" she asked, letting him into her dorm room. She forced herself to keep calm and her breathing even. He'd know if she were upset. Extraterrestrial friends were like fucking lie detectors. They hadn't talked much since the fight over the phone the day that the news of Jonathan's death had come out. She'd offered to drive all day back to Metropolis from Gotham to comfort him and, well, he'd said some things that one couldn't repeat in polite company and she'd unleashed her fair share of epithets back.

He hesitated at the doorway to her room. "I didn't...I know you haven't really talked to us in a while and I had something to tell you, actually some really good things about me and Clark."

Brightening despite the tension, Chloe let him into her room and pulled out her desk chair for him. "Be careful, it rocks back a little."

"Falling wouldn't hurt," he said, taking his seat.

"But it would hurt my linoleum," she admitted, sitting back cross-legged on her bed. "So I'd just save my cheap floor."

Davis chuckled at that and a bit more of the tension eased. "True enough."

She sighed and started picking at her cuticles. Her nail polish was half crumbly, and she really needed a manicure. Not that she could impress him. He was firmly in the never dating her again frame of mind. "I said some really mean things."

"Me too. I know you wanted to be there for me."

"And I know you...I can't imagine how badly you felt. I wanted to try and understand, Davis."

"There's nothing to understand. I killed a man and my dreams are intensifying. The Beast loved it; maybe I did too."

She nodded and forced herself not to cry. She wanted to say it wasn't true, that they'd get through all of it, but he'd been dreaming of the blood for a long time now. It was no longer easy to say they'd weather anything. "So where does that leave us? Are we even friends?"

"I'd like to be, but I know I hurt you a lot. I'm sorry I did."

"I wasn't very charitable back," she said, pulling off a long strip of cotton candy nail polish from her thumb. "I want us to still be friends. You've been in my life in some capacity for four and a half years. I want it to stay that way."

He nodded. "Good then, deal."

"So, what is the good news?"

"Clark and I are back to patrolling. He's right, even if it doesn't balance what I did to Kyla and Jonathan Kent, it makes use of my abilities. It makes me feel less like a monster."

She didn't deny his nature. Chloe'd learned long ago it just made him more resolute and bitter. "That's good but Clark? He...that is to say, well, he's blind."

"Hearing, smell, and he can feel air currents. We were in Smallville last night and he helped me stop some kind of glass wielding meteor mutant. Hell, he even got the girl."

She grinned. "He rescued a damsel in distress?"

"A little. I mean, obviously we couldn't stay, but I could tell the squirt was pretty smitten. I think he's finding perks to the hero biz."

Giggling, she grinned wider. "Well, you never know, he might run into her again."

"Doubtful, but maybe, I dunno. He could use a date. You have any friends in your dorm who might be interested?"

"If I said yes, could we double date?"

Davis's shoulders sagged and his smile fell. "No, but I think Clark could use something normal for once. Kyla and Alicia weren't very good for him and Alicia was over two years ago. Just a nice normal girl with no homicidal tendencies."

"Check and check; I can look into it."

"Thanks, Chlo. You're a life saver."

b Clark /b

He was taking art this semester. It seemed ridiculous to him but Met U had an art requirement and he hadn't been able to beg out of it so he was just taking it as soon as he could, getting it out of the way, and accepting he'd make a lot of fugly things. Except, he actually was enjoying pottery class. He did a lot by feel. Obviously painting or coloring his work was out, but he was getting the hand of making vases and other things, just based on letting his hands guide him.

Running late on his assignment and worried about freaking out his mom, who was back from Topeka for the weekend, Clark was rushing to the kiln. He cursed when he ran into someone, hoping he hadn't broken anything. His clay, however, was a smushed mess and he sighed. "I'm really sorry!"

The voice that replies was angry yet familiar. Taking in a deep breath, Clark smelled lavender and frowned. "Hey what are you? Blind?"

Shrugging ruefully, Clark straightened his sunglasses, fervently hoping she hadn't seen his scars. "Actually, now that you mention it."

"Oh god!" she said, reaching down to pick up the mess they'd made. "You must think I'm such an asshole."

He laughed. "Nah, it's sort of refreshing. I was rushing and not paying attention to my stuff. I was just being careless." Hunching down, he started fumbling for the clay, locating it by its acrid smell. His hands grazed over hers at first and he blushed. "Or, uh, maybe you could just finish picking it up?"

He heard her hair rustle against her clothing due to what he assumed was nodding. "Sure, in a jiff."

Standing up, Clark waited patiently for the sound of clay slamming into a trash can. Then he introduced himself. "I'd, uh, shake your hand but I can't find it. But the name's Kent, Clark Kent."

"Oh, no problem," she answered, touching his hand carefully and letting him take hers in return. "I'm Maddie, um, Wilson. I pretty much live here. I do a lot of stained glass work."

"Neat, not that I could see it, but I'm sure it's nice."

"Hoping to make it great, actually. My dad...well, he was good at that. It was his major talent in life."

"I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"The past tense, I assumed he died."

"Nah, just up the river."

"Huh?"

She sighed. "Incarcerated for a while. I'm not really keen on visiting him, but mom's awesome." She paused for a long bit in the conversation and Clark frowned.

"Did I...is something wrong?"

He felt her reach up and brush his face. "No, not at all. You seem so familiar."

"My mom's a senator, actually. There was a lot of campaign stuff before she got elected from Lowell County."

She hesitated again and he imagined her squinting up at him. "No that's not it."

"Uh..."

"Oh my god! I'm so stupid-the voice, the height, hell even the covered eyes. You're i The Blur /i."

Crap, now his mom really was gonna kill him.


	24. Chapter 24

24

Clark

Oh crap. His mom was gonna kill him. Then probably Chloe, oh and Davis. Davis was definitely going to kill. He was gonna have his ass kicked all over the city.

Lie!

His brain was screaming that. Fuck, grandfather had paid for acting lessons. He was supposed to be more smooth than this. Wringing his hands, Clark took in a deep breath and tried not to be distracted by the smell of lavender. "I'm not. I'm really not."

Maddie laughed. "Of course you are. I feel stupid for not recognizing it earlier. I mean, you sound just like him! Plus, not to be mean, but are you even blind? You do things that no blind person should be able to. I mean you bent down and knew instantly where the clay had fallen, started reaching for it before me."

Clark stood up straighter and pulled his favorite jacket tighter around him. "For your information, I am blind, and what do you even know about The Blur ? Hardly anyone's ever seen him; that's why he's called The Blur ." Sighing, Clark started walking to the table where he'd left his bag. He was fumbling for it, wishing he'd brought his cane that far because there was nothing in his backpack that gave off a tell tale scent. Cursing when he tripped into a stool and then bent the fucking thing, Clark tumbled to the ground. "Fuck!"

"Hey, look, I'm sorry. So you are blind," Maddie replied, leaning down and putting her hands on his shoulders. "Look, I...I promise I won't tell anybody about you."

"I'm not him," Clark said, his voice plaintive.

Maddie stroked his back. "I know you are. You saved me a week ago at The Talon in Smallville. I...that mutant dragged me there as a hostage. Without you and The Ultimate , I'd be cut to ribbons."

He sighed. "I know you were there. You have a very distinct lavender perfume. I recognized it almost instantly when we collided."

"Good sense of smell."

"I've been blind for a few months now. It's helped hone my other senses."

"I see," she said, offering him her hand. "Do you need me to help you up."

Clark paused and frowned. "I, please don't take this weirdly, but can I touch your face?"

Maddie laughed nervously and then stopped and he felt his face warm. "You're serious?"

"Nevermind, it was stupid. I haven't met many people since the accident and I already know what my mom, brother and friend Chloe look like. I have some people helping me adjust, teaching me braille and things. It's something that...I can get a feel for you and it helps give me a picture. I guess it's too invasive."

She paused and, after the longest time, took his left hand and put it against her cheek. Gulping, Clark brought his other hand to her and let it trace over-small pert nose, soft skin, high cheekbones. Reaching out, he could tell her hair was long, pulled back in braids. "Is that enough?"

He nodded and stood up. "What color?"

"Huh?"

"Your hair, what color is it?"

"Ash blonde and brown eyes, if that helps."

He smiled tightly at her. "Yeah, actually it does. I...shit, no one's supposed to know about me and what I do at night. It's not a good idea. Obviously there are people who wouldn't understand about my abilities and who would want to, well, the nice way to say it is 'test' me and my brother."

"The bad way to say it is to cut you open."

He swallowed hard. "Yeah, if the wrong people found out, I'd be living in a cage and I really, really don't want to do that. I don't suppose I can convince you to stay quiet?"

The sound of her hair rustling and he figured she was nodding again. "You saved my life."

"Yeah, I have a habit of that. Usually the girls I meet saving their lives, um, well they've been different."

"How?"

He sighed, and shifted a little from foot to foot. "The meteor rocks in Lowell County, especially Smallville, they cause mutations. I dated, well, kind of a shapeshifter and a teleporter, but the meteor rocks make most of the mutants really unstable. The first girl killed people and the teleporter shoved my mom down a flight of stairs."

"That's horrible."

"Yeah, I've never met a normal girl and have her know my secret," he said, glossing over Chloe. He wasn't supposed to talk about his family and, by now, Chloe was surely part of that.

Maddie sighed. Rustling again and he wasn't sure what that meant. In his mind, he imagined her stroking the top of her head. "Yeah, that sucks about the mutant thing. Nah, I'm pretty normal. Just an art student."

"One who won't rat The Blur out, right?"

"Definitely, like I said, I'd be sishkabob without you." She walked away for a moment-he could hear her sneakers squeaking on the tile-and when she was back, she placed his backpack in his arms. "I thought that would help."

"Thanks."

"So, um, do you want to see a movie this weekend?" she asked, then cursed under her breath. "Fuck I didn't mean that. I just keep insulting you, don't I?"

He shrugged and touched her cheek, the lavender scent so very strong, especially where she'd clearly doused some on the curve of her neck. "I'd love to. I can hear them fine."

More nodding and the squeak of her sneakers. Then soft lips were on his cheek. "It's a date."

Chloe

Clark often met her for lunch on campus. He was very adept at taking care of himself, perhaps too much, but he was walking slowly across the quad, letting Shelby lead him. He was smiling broadly and it made her curious. He hadn't been in that good a mood in years. When he sat down next to her, she slipped him the slice of extra meat pizza that she'd already picked up for him. He thanked her and stripped the meatballs off by feel and slipped them to the golden retriever.

"So, spill Mr. Kent. You seem to be in a terrific mood."

His grin widened. "Yeah. Hey is there soda?"

"Yup, Mountain Dew with more sugar than I can handle," she said, placing the cup in his hand, and bringing the straw close enough to his mouth for him to do the rest. "If you were, you know, you'd have to have dentures by now."

"It's good."

"So, really, what's the big deal?"

"Nothing. Why does there have to be a deal."

She'd hit a nerve, interesting. "Why are you smiling so much?"

Feeling for the table top, Clark set down his drink. "I can smile."

"Yeah but I haven't seen you this gone since, well, Alicia. Oh my god!"

"Oh your god what?" he asked, blushing.

"You met someone, finally. I was going to set you up with Stephanie on my hall, but now I don't have to. This is great! What's her name?"

"Maddie Wilson and we met in one of the art labs. We might have bumped into each other."

"She still have all her bones intact?"

"Yes mom."

Chloe shrugged at his snippy tone. "Had to check. So, what are you going to be doing about it?"

"Oh, we're doing a movie this weekend, and I know no moving too fast, but, if it helps she doesn't know a thing about the weird stuff and she's completely normal. No more meteor mutant weirdness for me."

"Right. That's really good, Clark."

"Yup, I...it's really nice. Hey, do you and Davis-"

"We're not dating. Believe me I suggested the double date thing to be sly. He's firmly on the 'we'll be friends until the end of time because I'm a spiky monster, woe is me' thing."

"Davis is noble like that."

"Or boneheaded," she said, chomping into a french fry. "I miss him is all."

Clark nodded and, with a small bit of effort, found her hand, giving it a friendly squeeze. "You'll get there. I used to see the way he looks at you. He'll cave, Chlo. I know he will."

"I hope you're right," she said. Then she checked her watch. "Crap! I have to go. I have this med student friend of mine who told me he had a massive break through on something. I was going to cover it for the DP if it's big enough, get off pigeons."

Clark sipped his soda. "Sure, see you later. Give Shelby a pat on your way out."

Davis

Why did his brother always move so fast. At least this time he wasn't talking bracelets with Kyla or having Alicia teleport into his room. As far as he could tell, Maddie was pretty normal. She was polite and sweet. She'd even brought a portfolio of her work so that their mother and he could look at what she could do. The stained glass patterns she made really were breath taking, as if she'd been made for the work. Still, his brother was sitting on the sofa, goofy grin on his face, holding Maddie's hand in his and reaching out a bit clumsily with the other to stroke her hair.

Clark was always so desperate to fit in that he jumped the gun like with Kyla and Alicia or he flat out misread signals like with Chloe.

Davis just didn't want his little brother to be hurt again. Enough was enough.

When Maddie was gone, and, yes, she'd promised to have lunch with him on campus tomorrow afternoon, Davis took Clark aside to the kitchen, out of their mom's ear shot.

"Hey, what's going on, Davis?"

"Clark, I know we've done this dance before, but don't you think that you and Maddie are pretty into each other after like seven days."

"Eight tomorrow," Clark defended, as if that was any damn different. "I'm really tired of this. I know you've been right twice. I really do get that, but she's not infected. She's not like Kyla or Alicia. She's a good person."

"I just...you set yourself up every time because you're so damn needy."

"Well not all of us had a roaring social life in high school or have Chloe desperate to date him. Maddie's really nice and I like her. I just...can't you ever let things go?"

"I just want you to be alright."

Clark frowned and Davis knew if he'd still had heat vision, his brother would be glaring at him with red eyes. "It's movies and some lunches. I don't go to watch her turn into a wolf and she's not stalking me. Are you going to harass her too?"

"I don't harass people."

"The Beast, I mean. Is he going to get angry?"

Davis took several steps back, feeling as if Clark had just slugged him. "I thought you believed in me?"

"I do, but there's no reason to be angry at her or at me when we haven't done anything but eat popcorn and hold hands, how daring."

"I won't hurt her. You know I try my best to stay on the property, even if I don't have control. Just, don't get gone on this one. You should know better than anyone else. People have things they don't show you to start, their secrets. She might not be who you think she is."

"And I'm not what she thinks either!" his brother shouted and from under the counter, Shelby whined at the noise. "I'm not ever going to tell her that I'm first contact, you know. That's not anything that a girl who isn't Chloe can cope with, alright? I know this has an expiration date. I just want to feel like a mostly normal guy for once."

Davis sighed and patted Clark's shoulder. "I know, squirt, but don't set your expectations so high this time. I'd hate for it to come crashing down."

Chloe

She was coughing. God, why was she even alive? She'd had that fucking green meteor rock drug shot into her veins by her so-called friend before she'd even realized she'd been elected as a guinea pig. She'd blacked out and had memories of her mom, before she'd left her at five. Stuff about her and a typewriter, too much ink everywhere and rubbed raw hands.

Things she must have forgotten. She'd been so little after all.

Blinking up, she saw Davis above her. "God, it's you."

"Definitely," he said, hugging her. "I thought you died."

"I did? Did you what? Paddle me?"

"CPR, actually," he replied, rubbing at his neck. She noticed the needle mark on his neck. "Did they get you too?"

Davis nodded. "I saw Faora and Zod again, basically a rerun of last time. Nothing new. You?"

"My mom," she admitted, standing up. "Where's Clark?"

"He and Maddie are detaining the medical students."

"The ones with freaking bone saws? What is Maddie thinking?"

"She's the daughter of the man we caught in Smallville, the telekinetic who can only move glass. It's how she makes her art. Clark and I were overwhelmed with the serum and she, well, she gave them some scratches with shattered window shards. It was superficial but she's-"

"A meteor mutant. I swear Clark has a detector for those things."

"Yeah, uh, he took her back to her dorm. I told him to end it."

"Davis!"

"He can't...mutants are killers, Chloe. It's what they do. Do you know how many we've stopped over the years? Hell, her father's in prison for murdering her mom and they have the same mutation."

She glared at him. "You're hardly one to talk about murder."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not blaming you but you're...they don't all go nuts, just eighty percent. She might be okay."

"Or she might push my mom down the stairs and scar her for life or kill her. I can't have that happening!"

"It's Clark's choice to make. Maybe third time's the charm."

He sighed and she was torn between wanting to pat his shoulder and knee him in certain areas. Chloe did neither. "I worry."

"We all do, give him a chance. This is something he wants and he deserves a choice."

"I hope she's not a killer, Chlo," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. He'd take her back to the estate tonight to make sure she'd be alright through the night. It felt good having her close again. For tonight, it'd be enough.

Clark

Clark was sitting on one end of the twin bed in Maddie's room and she sat on the other. They hadn't said anything to each other in half an hour. Sighing, setting his hands on his knees, he quirked his ear towards her. "What do we do now?"

"I dunno."

"You lied."

"I did because I thought you'd think I was like the others. I'm not ! Daddy wanted me to go all Bonnie and Clyde with him and when I didn't, he decided to hurt me. I'm not crazy or a criminal. I'm like you."

Clark shook his head. "I lied to you too."

"So you really can see?" she asked, wryly.

"No, I let you think I was born this way, and I was, but I wasn't born in Kansas."

"Okay? So Missouri?"

Clark pulled at his jeans so hard they tore. "I wasn't born on this planet."

Maddie laughed. "Right. You're a Martian."

"Maybe," he said, shrugging, voice tight. "I don't even know where I'm from. I never figured it out."

"Davis too?"

"Yeah, but no one else. We don't know anything about where we come from or why we're here. We just are."

He waited for her to scream or to run. She did neither, but, instead, took his hand and squeezed. "You're telling me this why?"

"Because I want to be honest. You promise you're not dangerous and I promise the same thing. I just want one thing to work out. I won't ever tell anyone you're infected and you won't tell anyone about my family."

"You're trusting me a lot."

He shrugged and stroked the back of her hand. "I'm so sick of hiding and it falling apart. Let's actually try this, alright?"

He waited for her answer, his heart hammering that she'd say no, tell him he was too weird, which, frankly, he was. It took forever and then he felt her lips on his, their first real kiss. "Maddie?"

"Does that answer your question?"

Grinning, he kissed her again, lost in lavender and soft skin, feeling all was right with the world.

A/N - This finally completes year five, phew. Year six starts next with a certain archer in town...


	25. Chapter 25

25

Clark

It was August and Maddie was already moved into her new apartment just off campus. Clark approved. She had selected a single but it meant her bedroom was still twice the size of the sardine can she'd called a dorm room last year. It also meant that she had a double bed instead of a twin. It had been almost impossible to lay down with her on her barely-there-mattress. He was a large guy, had always been tall, but had apparently put on some bulk to him in the last two years. His shoulders were very broad and trying to squish himself anywhere was becoming a losing proposition.

No, he and Maddie had not started sleeping together, yet. Clark had found, though, that he could control his strength well even when Maddie was being as creative as she could be with her tongue. It was nice. The one thing he did like about his accident, even if he'd lost so much, the one thing that worked better was no heat vision. What a stupid power that had been anyway. When he'd had it, sometimes, just thinking about sex had made him melt things in his room on accident. Arousal had always left his eyes itchy and blinking. There was no way he'd have been able to date Maddie as he'd been. It was too hard.

Yeah, he and Alicia had gotten pretty far but not like this. On red meteor rocks, he could manage because that other side of him didn't care and had control. With Alicia, he'd not been with her long enough for the problem to come up. With Maddie, when things were so intimate and sometimes just her breath on his neck aroused him, he couldn't imagine having that ability.

It would have ruined everything.

Five months felt like such a long time. He felt like everything had changed, or maybe he just had. His mom, whom he loved dearly, and Davis, whom he might love even more, had been his whole world (well and Chloe too). But his mom and Davis had always had expectations for Clark that he hadn't realized. Mom, even if she were busy often in Topeka with senatorial business and then in Metropolis with the firm, still maintained a presence in his life and at the estate. When he'd made it official this spring and declared physics as his major, mom had been furious. It wasn't a shock. Everyone knew he had never had an interest in the law. Debate team in high school, sure, but not being a lawyer and following in mom's and grandfather's path.

But it was never about the law school avoidance.

Met U, endowed handsomely by a late graduate and communications mogul, had the best astrophysics program at any public university in the country. Clark was signed up for a full slate of classes in that part of the physics department this fall as well as put in applications to be a lab assistant for several of the professors. He was still waiting to hear if he'd gotten a position. Mom didn't want that. She was scared. Clark understood that. He had been hurt and weakened. They'd come off a horrible year with grandfather's death, near exposure, and Davis killing a human. But Clark wasn't three anymore and he wasn't just dealing with being blind. He was strong and competent and knew what he wanted.

He wanted to patrol and he wanted answers about what he was. He wasn't an adult yet, but he was taking on adult responsibilities and had been for a while, especially now that Davis needed more watching and support, since grandfather's death.

Mom didn't understand that. When they were both home, they fought often about his choices in life, about him risking his health further as The Blur and about how stupid it was for an alien to study physics at all, how it might get him exposed again.

She didn't understand what he needed to cope with what he was. He knew she meant well, but he was tired about the arguments.

If mom was hard to be around, Davis was impossible. He and Chloe were in a conspiracy to set Clark up with every normal, perfectly plastic girl from Chloe's dorm. Clark hadn't told Davis or Chloe that he and Maddie were still dating. Chloe didn't know because she couldn't keep anything from Davis, and Davis didn't know because, ironically, when it came to meteor mutants, his brother the sometimes-spiked-monster was a raging bigot.

So Clark was always being urged when he ran into Davis or his blonde accomplice to just go bowling or swimming or boating or who cared? He loved Maddie. She was weird, he was weird, and they were weird (and not crazy) together. It was as it was supposed to be, not that he could ever explain to his brother that not every meteor mutant was waiting to go on a murder spree starting with hurting Chloe and mom.

His mom and Davis loved him but they had a lot of conditions and a lot of ideas about what would make him happy and safe, none of which agreed with Clark. As a result, Clark spent a lot of time making up excuses to stay at his own dorm room on campus during the school year and, during the summer, had flat out lied about a lab job on campus starting early so that he could hang out with his girlfriend.

It didn't seem fair that he had the first good thing for himself that he might have ever had, and he couldn't share it with the rest of his world.

Sighing, shaking himself out of his melancholy, Clark set the mattress down on Maddie's bed. "I'm sorry. If I could still see, I'd have all your knick knacks and crap unpacked before you could blink."

"Right, because I'm going to complain when you lift all the heavy crap and then lift the heavy-ass mattress on your own."

"It's not heavy!"

She giggled and he loved that sound, wished more and more than he knew what the face that went with it looked like. She'd described herself often and he'd felt her so many times, but it wasn't the same. He'd never know her face the way he knew Chloe's or Alicia's or Kyla's. He did, however, know her in a different way, the scent of her-that mix of lavender perfume and something deeper a human wouldn't be able to detect-the feel of her skin, the sound of her heartbeat. He loved that best, that resonating beat, the one he listened to in some way always, but most often if he was alone at night at the estate. She soothed him.

It also comforted him on nights she spent with her grandmother (her last remaining family since her father had murdered her mother during his spree), on nights they couldn't be near each other.

"Of course, not if you're from Tatooine."

He shrugged and reached for his cane. The room he wasn't used to yet, didn't have the layout memorized and it helped him navigate safely away to her desk chair while she put on sheets and her comforter. He couldn't help with that. He could stop bank robbers but matching sheet patterns was beyond him.

"I think I prefer Melmac," he said honestly. "At least Alf's cute."

"Point taken," she said and he could hear the rustling of cloth from here, the snap of the top sheet being shaken out. "Thank you. You didn't have to help."

"I wanted to. I'd be a shitty boyfriend if I made you move everything on your own."

Maddie sighed and didn't speak for a while. "You know what I mean, Clark. I'd have understood if this is hard for you."

"I can run from here to Alaska in a few minutes and stop muggings. I really don't think carrying boxes upstairs is a chore."

"I know. I just..."

"Really," he said, forcing himself to smile. "I got hurt in December. It's been, wow, I guess nine months. Things are hard for you to imagine doing. Going up two flights with a box in my arms...the way I feel air currents...it isn't dangerous for me or, you know, your stuff cause if I fell on it, I'd do it no good."

Steady heartbeat. "I know. I just...man I know. You saved my life, and I know exactly how strong and resilient you are. It still sometimes does feel like I ask you too much."

"I want to do it. If you ask me to go to the Home Depot, choose colors and paint your house, that'll be too much and I'd advise against it."

She laughed. "I'll remember that. Thank you."

"Again, it's not that bad-superstrength and never get overheated. Makes an August move perfect for me."

"No, the last six months or so. Mom's gone and I didn't even know grandma until the courts found her. You're like my constant and the whole 'dad in prison' thing doesn't freak you out. Me being a meteor mutant doesn't freak you out."

Clark nodded and stood up, he left his cane where it was, focusing his hearing on her heartbeat, finding her and giving her a hug. He felt her bury her face into the nape of his neck. "Well, me being an alien from who even knows where doesn't make you scream. I think we make a good duo."

"Would we make a good group?" she asked, forcing her tone to stay light. "Huh?"

She snorted and patted the mattress. "Sheets are on. It's already eleven and I have my first day at my work-study at the art library tomorrow. Strip."

Clark laughed. "I don't usually spend the night."

"I usually sleep on a postage stamp," Maddie countered. "It's not a sex thing-"

"Oh," he whined a little.

"I have got to get sleep, but stay with me. Unzip those jean and I have a few of your t-shirts in my drawer. I snuck them out of your dorm. Sort of a massive hint to just give in and move here too."

"I have to stay at the estate sometimes."

"I know and that's the group joke," she said and he could her the rustle of fabric, the click almost of wire on wire as she unhook her bra. A bit of cloth beaned him and Clark, with some effort, picked up what he realized was one of his shirts. Thief.

"Huh?" he asked again, shucking off his jeans and slipping on his shirt. Idly, as if it mattered, he wondered what color it was.

"You have the tag on inside out."

"Ugh," he finished redoing it, making sure he had the t-shirt on right this time, feeling for the tag. "What group, Maddie?"

"You and me and Chloe and Davis, you know? We could all hang out as friends."

"We can't," he said, sighing and reaching out with his arm, waiting patiently for Maddie to show him where the lip of the bed was. "We can't."

"Why?" she asked, more fabric sounds and he reached to her stomach from where he'd taken his seat. Her nightgown was silky and smooth. He liked that, enjoyed that girls had stuff like that and even if he couldn't see how pretty it was, he could feel the quality of the gown.

"Davis doesn't like meteor mutants. He thinks you're dangerous."

" The Ultimate thinks I'm intimidating?"

Clark felt his blood rush to his face, felt himself blush. "I have a type, maybe a talent for it. I dated two meteor mutants before and they went bad."

"And I'm not them."

"Davis doesn't know the difference or he doesn't want to. Maddie, it's not you. Davis is the jerk about all of this. I...we're private."

"You mean I'm your lie."

"You're my home," he amended. "Davis ordered me to stop dating you. I can't...he doesn't understand. I love you and I love my family, I just wish you could both work together."

She sighed and slipped onto the other side of the bed. He laid back and spooned with her, letting her head settle under his chin. "I want to. It's your mom and Davis who are so regimented on everything. Would Chloe like me?"

He laughed. "I think so. She's really cool. I mean, we've been best friends since we were fourteen. And, just so you know, mom still is hard on her sometimes. Mom's spent sixteen years protecting me and Davis and it's hard for her to turn the paranoia off. Davis...he found mom after Alicia pushed her. It really scared him and it's not like mom ever recovered. Her legs are really badly scarred. I...they have reasons."

"And I'm not a killer, Clark. You have to tell Davis some time and your mom. I love you, but I'm not a dirty little secret either."

"You're not!," he said, holding her more tightly and kissing the crown of her head. "I love you. I just know Davis will make me choose."

"And you'd choose your family."

"No, Maddie, I don't know what I'd do and that scares me. I'm not really ready to cut ties and be on my own if this doesn't pan out, but I'm not...I don't want to lose us either."

"Alright, well, maybe we just need to get Chloe on our side. She knows what it's like you said to be the odd one out of the Clark Family Cabal. Maybe she can put in a good word?"

"I...I know this makes no sense coming from an alien of all things, but Davis doesn't see each mutant on their own merit. They're all killers or ticking time bombs to him, okay? He's never gonna be eased into anything."

"Then," she said, sighing. "He's not a very good brother if you have something that makes you happy and he doesn't get it."

"He's the best, Maddie. The very best. He's just confused."

"I hope," she said, before growing silent.

They both fell into a fitful sleep.

When Clark woke up, he groaned. He knew without having to reach out with his hands, what he'd done. Reaching up, he touched the ceiling a few inches above him. Perfect. Freakshow. "Uh, Maddie?"

There was tossing and turning beneath him, a pillow even thunked on the floor. "Clark, five more minutes."

"Maddie, you're gonna wanna wake up and like move very slowly. I...can you do that."

"Clark," she started. "My alarm didn't go off so it's not awake time and whoa!"

He snorted. "Yeah, I know. I've done this since I was in high school. It just happens. I didn't forget exactly, but sometimes it doesn't happen every night. I can't control it so I guess I was hoping it wouldn't be today?"

"You can fly!"

"I can float ," he countered, feeling himself bob with every breath he took. "I'll probably land in a few minutes but sometimes it can take twenty minutes."

"And you tell me this now because?"

"Sometimes there's crashing and I'm a big guy?"

"You'll break my bed! Stay up there!"

"I'll buy you a new one, and, just move. We have to wait me out."

Below him, she muttered and he could hear her gathering up her heavy comforter and half tumbling-half sliding to the floor with it. "Unbelievable. You're a very high maintenance boyfriend."

"I think so," he said, sighing again and waiting for his body to do whatever it did to make him land.

After over two years and mediation and research, he realized he wasn't going to be able to find some magic breath technique or answer to make his body listen to him on this one. Either he'd grow into controlling it, or he'd have to find his people so they could show him. It might really be the latter. Eventually, with Maddie snoring somewhere on the floor below, and him exhausted and wishing he were still asleep, he crashed. The noise he made thunderous and the slats of her bed broke from under his weight.

Maddie giggled. "Maybe we should just stick to a mattress, no box springs from now on. You suck at landing."

"It's falling with style," Clark corrected. "I...I'm sorry. That was embarrassing."

"It was really cool, Clark. I've never seen anyone float before."

"Yeah," he said glumly.

Soft steps on carpet and then Maddie was sitting on his lap, her hands running over his face for once. "It was really cool. I...when we realized that us making out made me crack windows at your dorm, you didn't get mad."

"Of course not, just worried. Cracked glass could hurt you!"

"Yes, well, my bed aside, I'm not mad, okay? I...god I wish we did know where you came from. The stuff you can do is so amazing."

He was so embarrassed, so keenly aware this morning about his differences. It made it hard to speak and he was so glad he couldn't see, couldn't see her scrutiny. "I'd settle for just being a guy most days."

"Well," she said, kissing him. "I don't date just any guy, so you're lucky you're from Melmac, Alf."

Chloe

"And! And he never comes home. He's always at the lab and if he's not there, he's at his dorm. I see him to patrol and for like Sunday dinner with you and mom. What does he do all day with scientists , Chlo! Scientists! Do you think he'd mind if I lightly coated a chain with some green meteor rocks and stuck him at the estate?"

Chloe giggled and shook her head on the other line. She was waiting for Clark at their usual spot by the student union for their first pizza lunch of the new school year. Davis had called her on his break to complain again. "Davis, Clark's not a little kid anymore. I had to learn time management with school, the Planet, and our little town and city-saving venture. Clark's got a difficult major, lab work, and a night job to deal with. He's learning."

"But he's never around anymore. It's not fair!"

She sighed. "You'll get used to this new, improved Clark, the one with a very active work and social life. Davis, come on!"

"But it's not the same."

"You can't stay kids forever," she countered. "He's gonna be here in a few minutes. I don't want him to overhear you fretting like a mother hen. It'll only hurt your dignity."

"Ha-ha, Chlo. Yeah, my break's ending. What about Cheryl?"

"Davis, give it up. Your brother doesn't want a date."

"I know but I feel bad. He couldn't keep dating Maddie, but he's super dedicated to working now. I didn't want to ruin his social life."

"Uh-huh. No more blind date even inquiries. He hates it. Go save some lives, Davis, and I'll call you after your shift."

"I...thanks." He clicked off then and she wondered if he'd been thinking of saying something else.

Chloe sighed and slipped her phone back into her backpack. She was getting tired of waiting for Davis to get over himself. She loved him, all of him, spikey red-eyed parts and all, but if he was determined to be the martyr, she didn't know if they'd ever have a future together. She could tell he still loved her. Hell, Clark could and he was blind. Everyone knew the feelings had never faded on either end. But she couldn't wait forever either. Every phone call, every hope that he'd say 'I love you and come back to me,' all that hope only to be driven back every time a phone call or a conversation ended like this.

Shaking her head, Chloe took a sip of her iced tea and almost choked. Clark was coming. That wasn't unusual. The fact that it was Maddie Wilson , smiling up at him and leading him by the arm was. She cursed under her breath, feeling stupid for having been lied to. There had never been a lab job. There had been Maddie.

"Oh Clark, what have you done?"

His shoulders sagged even as he reached out to make sure he was sitting down correctly. "Chlo, not you too."

"I..." she fumbled, sighing at Maddie who was sitting next to Clark and across from her at the table. "You brother's going to kill you. It's not personal, Maddie. Davis is just-"

"A neanderthal? Maybe a raging bigot? Which word works here?"

"I...we've had bad experiences before."

The other girl nodded and took Clark's hand. "I know, Chloe."

"Then you understand after how Alicia almost killed Ms. Clark that Davis is leery of, well, people of your persuasion."

"Meteor freaks," Maddie hissed. "Yeah, I was aware. However, that's not what I meant. I know , Chloe. All of it. I have for months."

"There's nothing to know, not really. Davis and Clark...they're not meteor infected. They were born the way they are. Clark's not like you."

"Clark's not human," Maddie replied, her voice hushed. "He and Davis aren't from here."

"Clark Kent! How could you do that? Your mom is going to murder you and then Davis and I'm gonna help!"

Her friend blushed and adjusted his sunglasses. "Chlo, I didn't want to lose her after everything with the death serum. I told her. She's known since March and notice how Davis and I are not in labs."

Chloe was staring between Maddie and Clark. It wasn't...the three of them worked so hard to keep this secret. What right did he have to endanger his brother by telling a girl he'd barely known at the time. "How could you?"

Clark shrugged. "I told you, didn't I? When everything came out, I told you. Davis never wanted me to talk about my abilities. Mom and grandfather told me not ever use my powers, but I did. I kept you from breaking your back. I argued over and over for you to be part of our family. I've saved your life more than once. Why is this different."

Maddie nodded. "I've known for five months, Chloe. I've never hurt him. I'd never tell on him or Davis. I...if they told people about me, I'd be a social pariah. Everyone knows this. We all have our secrets."

"I don't about myself," Chloe replied. "I just...Clark...your mom and brother are going to be so mad!"

"I don't care," he said, clenching his jaw and stroking Maddie's hand. "I love her, Chlo. Everything I ever thought I felt about you? It's not even close."

Chloe was torn between breathing a massive sigh of relief, happiness for her friend, and fear. Clark had made so many mistakes before. What if he'd regret telling Maddie he wasn't human? "Do you really?"

Clark was smiling and she realized she'd never seen him that happy except the day she'd said yes to freshman formal. "Yeah. I get it, what you and Davis have-"

"Had," she corrected.

"I don't care what mom or Davis want. She makes me happy and I like being happy. I haven't felt like this ever."

Chloe sighed and looked between Clark, his joy so naked on his face, and Maddie who was quiet but still cuddling close to him. "Alright, what do you need me to do?"

"Thanks, Chlo. I knew you'd be on our side."

Maddie, who's smile was a little stiffer since realizing Clark had once crushed on her, also nodded. "We owe you one."

Oh they had no idea.

Maddie

She was beginning to get the feeling that dating Clark Kent was akin to entering into the CIA or NSA. She almost felt like she was supposed to bring her birth certificate and social security card with her to see Chloe on her lunch break at The Daily Planet . The other girl, though hesitant, had promised to help figure out a way to explain their situation to Davis, get him on their side, and then go to Ms. Clark.

Maddie definitely had the impression the new senator was about as easy to deal with as Darth Vader, probably as reasonable.

She was half way through a bland panini at the coffee shop beside the Planet's offices, when Chloe came in, her laptop slung over her shoulder in a bright orange carrying case. "Maddie, sorry, I was running late with this story on pigeons and, well, it was rude of me."

Maddie nodded and shook Chloe's proffered hand. "It's your meeting. You said you wanted to talk to me without Clark. I assumed this is one of those 'Clark's my best friend, if you hurt him then no one will ever find your body' speeches."

"Kind of."

"Kind of?"

Chloe nodded. "I...how much did Clark tell you. I need to know everything."

"They're both not from here. It's why Clark's The Blur and Davis is The Ultimate . No one but you, his mom, and he and Davis knew. I mean, his grandfather too but he died. I thought that was it."

Chloe shook her head and cursed. "I am going to have to sit Clark down and explain 'back story' to him."

"Me too. He never mentioned he was in love with you."

"I was never in love with him. I've been in love with Davis since the day I met him and, for a while, we did date."

"What happened then with you and Davis?"

"He's not human."

"Well that's very limiting. There are a lot of good people out there who aren't technically human anymore because of the shower, people like me. Clark and Davis might be E.T. but they've saved a lot of people in Lowell County."

Chloe shook her head. "No, you don't understand. Davis isn't really even humanoid."

"I've met him. Looks normal to me."

Of course, she hand't even known Clark could defy gravity until three days ago. She still didn't know how he'd managed to become blind. Clark had never offered to tell her, and she'd never pressed. Maddie got the impression it had been an accident he'd brought on himself and not as fall out from a fight on patrol. She just didn't have the details. She was beginning to realize that was something that happened often with the Clark family.

Chloe nodded and looked like she was going to cry. "Davis is only sometimes human. Sometimes he's like you know him and sometimes he changes."

"How?"

"Seven feet tall, grey skin, bony spikes all over, red eyes, claws and fangs. We, well he calls that part of himself, 'The Beast.'"

Maddie gaped. She'd never even thought Davis and Clark didn't even look human. She thought of her boyfriend and then tried to imagine him spiky and fanged too. She shuddered. What did it say about her that she wasn't sure she could love him that way?

"Davis is older than Clark. Will Clark change too?"

Chloe wiped at her eyes and her voice grew quiet. "Clark used to think it was him, they he was The Beast. For the longest time, his whole family believed it was him. Clark got the strength first, back when he was just three and they'd barely landed. There was an accident on the farm and everyone assumed he'd shifted and done it. Clark lived for years in terror that he changed into a monster at night."

"Years?"

"Until our senior year of high school. Then Davis started having weird memories and Senator Clark installed cameras in the mansion. They caught Davis instead. I...Davis didn't even start to have abilities or be odd at all as far as we could tell until he was about to start college. He and Clark don't grow alike."

"But they're brothers?"

"No, I don't think they are. I think they're from the same planet, but I don't think they're blood relatives, or at least not full siblings. Clark has a few scattered memories of a woman called Lara but Davis remembers a Faora. They might have the same dad, but it's probable that whatever The Beast is that Davis got it from Faora."

"Oh so Clark isn't-"

"A spiky, giant monster, no. But he grew up thinking he was, Maddie. He was kept sheltered until he was fourteen with tutors at home. I'm the only friend he's ever had."

"What?"

"He had to beg to go to high school and when he got exposed saving my life, his mother was going to yank him. Shortly after, he found out about The Beast and assumed it was him, that he was killing pets and livestock and things when he changed. He spent over three years in terror thinking he'd keep changing and being more alien until he wasn't able to pass for human. He never had other real friends, the two girls he did date turned out to be murderers, he just...he's been horribly sheltered and his sense of self is tied to the fact that while he's not The Beast, he always thought he was, was raised and sheltered as an abnormality. Martha didn't mean to stunt him but she didn't really know how to protect him either."

Maddie blinked, unable to understand so much at once. "Clark didn't really go to school until he was fourteen and until basically college he assumed he was like a werewolf but worse?"

"Basically. He's always wanted to fit in so badly, Maddie. He tried so very hard when we were kids to get me to love him and I couldn't. Kyla and Alicia turned insane. I just...I think this might help you understand his family's attitude more. He's always been the one who needed so much protection and consideration, the one who keeps getting kicked in the face by the universe."

"Because of the too strong too young, the thought he was the beast, the crazy exes."

"Yes and, well, even this last year. He blinded himself."

"How?"

"He and Davis develop differently. I don't understand it, none of us do. Clark can't shift but, slowly, Davis has developed similar abilities-heightened senses, insane speed and strength, invulnerability."

"Okay?"

"But one thing they never shared was what Clark called 'heat vision.' He used to be able to shoot fire from his eyes or a bit more like laser intensity heat."

"But he hurt himself with it?"

"It reflected off of something and back at him. He burned his eyes, everything into nothing useful," Chloe said, her voice wavering. That was four months before he met you. I...almost no one has had worse luck than Clark, and almost no one deserves a shot to be happy more either. Yes, Martha and Davis are overbearing but Clark's had a very sad life and he falls so hard for girls who show him any attention. After all this time, I think you mean well. I just want you to understand he's fragile and he's suffered so much."

"Chloe, I do love him. I'm not going to go on a rampage and, even if he had been spiky, I think I'd have stood by him. More than you at least."

Chloe shook her head. "No, I didn't break up with Davis after we realized he was The Beast."

"Huh?"

Her voice cracked as she spoke and Chloe started to cry a little, prompting Maddie to dig in her backpack for extra tissues to hand to her. "He broke it off with me. He can't deal with it, with being what he is. The Beast has killed a human before, and it is dangerous. None of us can deny that."

"Jonathan Kent."

She nodded. "He and Martha found the boys together. He was running to get access to the National Guard and contain them. He threatened Clark and almost killed him. Davis, well, The Beast didn't like that. Davis can't even control it. He blacks out and just wakes up God knows where, covered in blood."

"Jesus Christ. Davis hates me!"

"That's a problem. He killed Kyla when she was shifted, technically just a wolf, but he doesn't like when girls hurt Clark. I...if you want to run, now would be the time. You're very powerful but you saw yourself. Glass can't hurt either Davis or Clark. It can't do shit against The Beast. If you join this family, The Beast might still come for you. I honestly don't know."

"I-"

"Don't promise something you can't keep now, Maddie. I just wanted you to understand things are very complicated and aren't about your mutation. They're about secrets so deep that no one can be allowed to know them and live."

"Except apparently I can?"

"Clark's never been this happy in his whole damn life. I trust that. If you can't deal, I understand. If you have to make a break, I understand. If you think of betraying them, The Beastwill come for you, not because Davis wants it to but because it's in its nature to protect its family, its pack. If you break up with Clark, you can never tell anyone what you know. It won't end well for you."

"Like a threat?"

"Like the truth. I just...I'll back you and Clark up however you need, alright? But you deserve to know how damaged Clark really is emotionally and the burden this family bears. We keep The Beast at bay, most of the time, but it's very, very hard."

"Yeah, my dad is a psycho who murdered my mom and went to prison for one of the biggest robbery-murder sprees in Kansas state history. I know hard. I know people judging you before they know you. I want to try, Chloe. I...don't ask me to hang out with The Beast, but I want to try."

Chloe nodded and took the offered tissues and swiped at her eyes. "I love him, you know. He doesn't think it's fair...he's made these horrible jokes about giving me baby beastlings. Okay, so sure, we're not going to have kids like that and I am only nineteen anyway. I just...he keeps pushing me away. I've waited for years for him to get over his self-hatred, to come back to me and he won't. He wants me to have a normal life."

Maddie laughed and pushed her plate away. "I understand that. You're the only one of us who has that option. Davis, Clark, and I? We're aberrations. We'll never really belong anywhere. You're one hundred percent human. I understand why he wants you to run, to have a chance at the fairy tale."

"I-"

"He's being a pigheaded guy, sure, but his intentions are noble," Maddie finished, sighing. "You know though, if you want to get him back, you just have to follow his advice."

"I'm not in love any other guy."

"Pftt, Chloe, you don't have to be in love with a guy to go out on a date or make out with him."

"Whoa!"

"I'm serious. You go back to your office, ask out the first guy who gets on the elevator with you-as long as he's not like fifty-five or your boss or something-and I'll take care of the rest. If you help me get on Davis and Senator Clark's good sides, I promise I'll help you get Davis back."

"You'd do that?"

Maddie nodded and shook Chloe's hand. "My meteor power aside, we're two mostly normal girls thrust into a lot of weirdness way over our head in this family, because of the guys we love. We're gonna need each other to get through it. Besides, I'm a sucker for a fairy tale."

Chloe sighed. "I am too, but Davis would be the first one to tell you that The Beast doesn't get the happy ending."

"Well then call me Uncle Walt because I'm on it."

"Clark?" Maddie asked, smiling to herself when he was already lying in bed when she got back from her long day of lunch with Chloe and then a late night at the art lab.

Her boyfriend looked up from where he'd been reading his Braille edition textbooks. "Oh, hey! I didn't even realize, I was getting really into the intro for my astrophysics class."

"You would," she said, going to her closet and pulling out an old t-shirt of Clark's to slip on.

It dwarfed her and she liked being enveloped in it. It wasn't every girl who got her own superhero to come home to. She winced, thinking of how much pain that had followed Clark. He was the kindest, most selfless man she'd ever met. It hurt her to think he'd only had one friend in his life, that he'd spent almost two decades hating himself and thinking of himself as a monster.

He wasn't.

He never could be even if he woke up Kafka.

He grinned and set his book with some effort on the night stand. "You coming to bed now?"

She nodded and rolled her eyes when she remembered he couldn't see her. "Yes, of course," she said, slipping into her side next to him. Clark didn't sleep in sunglasses. Sometime during the last week, he'd bought one of those black sleep masks. It covered his scars. It occurred to her that after months, she'd never seen them.

"I had lunch with Chloe. She's going to help us, you know, explain ourselves to your brother."

"Good. I told you Chloe would. I'm glad you two are getting along so well. Chloe doesn't have that many female friends anyway. I think you're right. Us being a real group would be cool."

"She told me a lot, Clark, about how you guys grew up, about Davis's condition, about The Beast."

"She told you that I thought it was me, didn't she?"

"I can't even begin to imagine how lonely you were, how hard it was."

Clark smiled with some effort and drew her to his chest. "But I'm not now. I...I'm happy."

"I know but I want to...you can tell me anything. You don't have to be ashamed that you thought you might have been The Beast once or that you haven't had a lot of friends, considering your secret that even makes sense. You don't have to..."

"To what?"

"Take off that thing around your eyes, Clark."

He stilled beside her. "I...fucking Chloe."

"It's true, isn't it. I knew you hadn't always been blind, even if you hadn't mentioned it or been obviously adjusting to new arrangements. I mean there were interviews and things with you back in November when your mom started running and you were fine. I just assumed a mugger did it or a meteor mutant. I also assumed we'd talk about it some day."

"Chloe explained. I don't have heat vision anymore. It's moot. I fucked up and now I pay the price, Maddie. I'm ugly. I know that. I don't know what it looks like, but I've felt it. Often. I know it's hideous." His voice broke and his shoulders shook. She wondered if he'd be crying even a little if he still could.

Reaching up, Maddie worked the mask off. Clark objected weakly at first but she shushed him, holding his hand with her right one as the left took off his disguise. Maddie forced herself to stay breathing when she was done. The mass of scars and melted flesh made her want to cry, the criss-cross of ruined skin over his eye sockets mocking her.

"Oh Clark," she said, reaching up and stroking what was left of his temple gently. "Does it still hurt?"

"No," he said, his voice almost inaudible. "It only hurt when I did it. I...I've learned to deal and because of what I am, I adapted better than a human could. My sense of smell and hearing and even how I feel air currents, it's almost like I'm not blind at all. Chloe and Davis have to remind me a lot in public that I do things based on my abilities that a blind man wouldn't actually be able to do."

She nodded. "Like you're so good at pouring drinks by sound and not touch."

"Yeah, I'm sloppy with you and at home because you know. I try more in public. I don't want people to realize that random blind dude is both The Blur and you're friendly neighborhood alien."

"Don't."

"Don't what?" he said, reaching back for the sleep mask. She touched his hand so he'd stop.

"Play it off. You're not just an alien to me or the blind man. You're not deformed."

He sighed and rolled over, his back to her. She wondered if this was how Chloe felt with Davis. She might have to get the other girl a trophy for having dealt so long with two this stubborn.

Maddie slipped up to him, holding herself to his back. "I love you, Clark, all of you. You're not weird to me or ugly, promise."

"I...thank you," he said, shaking just a little underneath her grip. "I love you too."

She nodded and leaning up, kissed first the sides of each temple and then his mouth. "Cool, then let's get some sleep. I'm plotting with Chloe tomorrow and that takes sleep."

And, if in the middle of the night, she no longer felt the mattress beneath her but only Clark's strong arms, well, that was even cooler.


	26. Chapter 26

**26**

_Davis _

"So, did Clark have to work late again, sweetheart?" his mom asked. "He usually at least tries to make it home for weekends."

Davis frowned and kept playing with his food more than eating it. The steak was excellent, perfect filet cut, but it was cooked. With his family now or at work, he forced himself to eat the minimal amount not to look suspicious, but it wasn't what really sustained him. He'd started keeping a mini fridge and freezer in the back of his walk in closet. It was always stocked with raw meat of various types, most often steaks or cow rib cuts, but he always had them. He realized how much more he was eating each day, how much more it had been even since last December.

The dreams were coming every night now.

Sometimes he dreamed more than just of what Jonathan's death might have been like or even Kyla's. He dreamed of great swaths of destruction, of leaving bodies all over in his wake. He dreamed of a pile of bodies several feet high, of the blood, of fucking Chloe boneless on top of it.

He wasn't sleeping much if he could help it.

"Davis?"

He nodded at his mom, realizing how big and lonely the dining room was with Clark never there and his grandfather dead. "Yeah, he was busy. He's _always_busy."

"Do you know which professor he works for? I'm surprised you and Chloe haven't done a background check to ensure that he's going to be alright."

_Code: You need to do more. _

"Mom, I'll get on that, I promise. He's just...he's busy!"

She took a sip of her soup. "He has school now and a job. He has grown up a lot. I...you two are special and bonded by your nature, that's never going to change, and I worry about him so much after he hurt himself, you know I do, but I also understand he wasn't going to be at the estate forever."

Davis took a bite of his steak again and forced himself to chew through the toughness. "Why astrophysics? Scientists won't do us any damn good. I don't think he'll get caught or figured out but what does it matter where we're from. We're here now, we have abilities, and they clearly sent us away for a reason."

"Clark used to think it was because The Beast was too dangerous for your homeworld. Now he thinks that-"

"The planet was destroyed because of some old Native American legend Kyla taught him. I understand that, believe me I do, that he's convinced himself we're alone. I don't think he gets that I honestly don't care if we are."

"Davis, if there are other beings like you out there-"

He snorted. "I can't imagine a pack of Beasts is very pleasant company. They sent us away. I know Lara and Faora feel good to us from our memories, but they still let us go. I don't need them if they don't want me."

"I think that's wise. I get that your brother wants answers, but you all have what you have. Clark's almost twenty himself. The odds even if you figured out where you're from, that you could contact them or get back there are beyond remote. You all need to focus on what you have. Clark is incredibly bright; his memory a gift. He'd have made a wonderful attorney."

Davis shook his head and pushed his plate away. "Clark's too polite to be a lawyer, mom. No offense but he doesn't have that instinct to go for the jugular. Now it's a useful instinct and I don't think we could have survived this long without you and Grandfather's sharp minds looking out for us but Clark's just gentle. He wasn't made to be a corporate lawyer. Maybe a civil rights attorney pro bono in a rabbit warren. That I can see, but he's not really Metropolis wheeling and dealing material."

"He's foolish to be in the line of fire with scientists who want to find aliens, however. Look into the professor he's working for. I don't want your brother making any more mistakes. Lord knows we escaped a huge one with Maddie."

"Of course mom," he said, standing up and clearing both their plates in a blur. His stomach rumbled and he knew he'd be hunting tonight. The Beast was doing it every three to four weeks, and, deep down, some part of him-of Davis-liked that.

_Chloe _

She was not amused. She'd been walking home late from a study session at the main library on campus and, yeah, it wasn't but so smart to be out at one a.m. but she could handle herself and had a best friend who could hear her heart accelerate if she were attacked. She definitely had back up. Still, being snuck up on was not something she appreciated; Chloe appreciated even less that it was The Beast staring at her.

"Chloeeee."

Rolling her eyes she huddled down below the bushes from which it had come. "Davis, I know you aren't really gonna get all this, but I don't live with my dad in the city anymore. Remember Gotham?"

"Gothammmm," he growled and everything rumbled around them.

Sighing, she patted the top of his head. "I have an apartment off campus but my roommate doesn't even like hamsters! I can't bring you there. I...go home, Davis."

"Chloeeee," and now The Beast was nuzzling at her shoulder like the world's scariest and yet oddly cuddly pit bull.

"Oh for fuck's sake. I miss you too but this is not good. People absolutely cannot see you like this."

"Chloe?" he asked, his voice rising in pitch and making a bit of a whine.

"You aren't leaving are you?"

He nuzzled her again and rumbled, almost like a purr. Weird. "Stay now."

"Yeah," she said, pulling out her cell. "Clark, yeah, it's okay and no one's hurt but, uh, can I borrow Maddie's place until sunrise?"

"You can't...I thought you meant you were too tired to drive home from off campus! You can't just bring The Beast in!" Clark hissed from the door. "I mean, first of all Davis will wake up here!"

"No, you just take him back the moment he changes and leave him in his room. He'll never even know The Beast was out."

"Maddie's here!"

Chloe snorted. "Yes, that's why it's _her _apartment. Clark, I have a roommate and I cannot bring seven feet of sabertoothed monster home with me."

The Beast, who really couldn't care less just rumbled against her side. "Chloeeee."

Clark sighed. "You're serious? This is what he does when not deer hunting? Just cuddle up on you like a St. Bernard? Also he doesn't say a lot."

The Beast, finally noticing that Clark was blocking his way into the apartment, shook his head and pointed. "Kal-El."

"Yeah, I get that, Davis," Clark replied. "Me Kal-El, you The Ultimate. I just...crap her neighbors can't see him like this. Just come in but try and stay in the living room part."

"You're gonna make her camp out in her room?" Chloe snarked, shutting the door and locking it behind her. "Clark, she knows about you and Davis,_everything_ about you and Davis. It might be good if she saw this so she understood how you felt growing up and how just thorny everything is. If you were the only one, if we didn't have to hide The Beast, it'd be easier."

Despite his annoyance, Clark nodded and patted his brother's head. "Believe me I know."

"Kal-El!"

"Right, great, got that," Clark replied. "Just, okay, but he better behave himself."

The Beast, for its part, just set itself at Chloe feet, its head on its front forelimbs. Clearly now that he'd had his run and found her, he wasn't interested in anything else but sleep. She didn't want to think about what he'd found in the city to hunt or why his fangs were still red at the gum line. She hoped he'd had deer and rabbits on the estate, truly she did.

"See, he's calm."

"I..." Clark fumbled, heading into Maddie's bedroom and shutting the door behind him. She figured it'd take a minute for Clark to get up the courage to explain that The Beast was here.

Shaking her head, Chloe let herself stroke the top spikes on Davis's head very carefully. He rumbled again. "You know, it's incredibly unfair you do this to me. I can hear you bitch about Clark on the phone, go to lunch with you all at the estate, or have you come to my feet like a Mastiff-um thanks for no dead animals this time-but you, Davis Kent, won't come to me when it's obvious _both _halves of you are in love with me."

"Chloeeee," he said, big red eyes glaring back at her.

"Yup, that's my name."

"Love Chloeeee."

She blinked, unsure The Beast had ever learned that word. Hell, she was still unsure what it was capable of understanding. Chloe first her voice not to tremble and continued to stroke the length of his spike. "I love you too but you're a real drama queen you know that? The spiney version definitely is more honest."

"Love Chloeee."

She nodded. "I love you too Davis."

"Hey," Maddie said, stepping out from her room just then, eyeing The Beast carefully. Clark was trailing behind her. "I...we're not interrupting anything Hallmarky are we?"

She shook her head. "No. Maddie, I'd like you to meet The Beast. Beast, Maddie."

Davis or The Beast, depending on how you looked at it, was too happy being petted to pay Maddie much mind. It merely lifted its head and let its tongue loll out. "Kal-Elllll."

Maddie frowned but sat down in her recliner. Chloe noted that Clark put himself between the her and The Beast. "Translation guys?"

Clark shifted and frowned. "That's my birth name. We don't know Davis's but for some reason he knows mine. He's, uh, very fond of repeating it."

The Beast's tongue lolled out further as he nuzzled Chloe's hip. "Chloeeee, Kal-Elllll."

Maddie nodded and Chloe admired how calm the other girl was, even if you discounted the superstrength endowed boyfriend next to her. "Can you say 'Maddie?'"

"He's not a parrot," Clark huffed, adjusting his sunglasses on his nose.

The Beast did what he could to spite him by nodding and saying, "Madddie."

She laughed. "Ha, see he does know me." Growing a bit more somber she leaned against Clark's side. "At least part of your brother likes me."

Chloe sighed. "Now you know how I feel!"

She was sitting with Maddie in the cafeteria of the DP the next day at noon, sipping her black coffee. "Long night, right?"

Maddie nodded and took a bite of her sandwich. "I...he's interesting."

"Davis? Yeah, The Beast part is dangerous and I've seen it mad or covered in blood, well cat blood."

"Cat?"

"He ate mine named Morris in freshman year. I know it's scary and it's got bloodlust. I'm not a fool, but it can be so gentle with me and I know it loves Clark and Martha. I...killing Jonathan was wrong but I can understand The Beast was acting on an instinct to protect its own. Wrong but not completely out of nowhere."

"And Kyla, her too?"

"Well she was a wolf at the time, but yes. Kyla was dangerous. The Beast knew she was a killer and wasn't good for Clark. Like I said, protective instincts, very kill or be killed, but not sadistic. We just try and give him space to run and deer to eat when he changes. I hope it helps. I honestly don't know."

"He was well behaved. It's very hard to realize all he's done and looks like with how docile he is with you and Clark."

She nodded. "He loves us. Whatever intellect or knowledge The Beast has. For right now, it loves its family."

Maddie frowned and started picking at her potato chips. "You think that'd change?"

"I don't know, hope not, but I do worry about him."

The other girl giggled despite their situation. "Yet, he clearly loves you. The Beast would have serenaded if it could have!"

"Yes the 'Chloeeeeee' song," she replied, smiling despite herself. Sometimes things in her life were too weird not to laugh at. The Beast's attempts at courtship were one of them.

"Definitely. Still, this is why you need to get _Davis _on board. So, have you picked a patsy yet?"

"Huh?"

Maddie shook her head, pig tails bobbing back and forth. "A fall guy. There has to be one guy in the interns' office who'd go out with you. The Omega Chis are having a big sorority bash for the return to school. It's a costume party thing and Clark's so excited."

"He likes capes. He has this whole Zorro worship thing going on."

"I can tell from his patrol outfit. I think we were gonna try something a little different. I'm trying to talk him into like a Cleopatra Mark Antony thing."

"Clark in a fake breast plate?" She chuckled at the image. "Right."

"It'd come with a cape, and I don't think he should wear anything Blur or Zorro-like in public."

"Good point, still I have to see that."

She nodded, "So just pick a guy. I mean what about that redhead in the stupid bow tie? That guy? He's gonna say yes and no way you'll fall for him."

Chloe eyed him as he tried to clean up a can of soda that had exploded all over him. "Nope, not a chance."

_Clark _

"So I made it to Metropolis?" Davis asked, yawning and at least dressed in scrubs after he'd woken up human, naked, and at least back in his own bed.

Clark had really not enjoyed the trip to run his brother back but it still beat him waking up in Maddie's apartment and realizing they were dating before Chloe could smooth the whole thing over.

"Yes. You didn't seem to hurt anyone. There's no police report stuff. You just showed up in a dark patch of bushes on campus to see Chloe."

"Is she okay?"

Clark nodded. "She's fine, you're fine, and we're all fine. It was just inconvenient getting you back home. I...I've never seen The Beast leave the estate to go as far as Metropolis. That's like two hours from here."

Davis sighed. "I went pretty far to Smallville to kill a man."

"I...look, I am going to do more research. Dr. Crosby's lab is extensive. She's the executrix of Dr. Swann's estate and if anyone had a prayer of knowing anything about alien life it was Virgil Swann."

"Who's been dead a while, squirt," Davis replied. "There might not be a cure for this. I think you're right about it accelerating. The last time I hunted down a deer was three weeks ago. I know I'm changing."

"Well, yeah, we have footage and stuff."

"No, I mean that I know I'm different even as 'Davis.' My appetite's different. I can barely stand cooked food and vegetables are something I have to forced down."

"You want raw meat, don't you?" his brother asked, his head quirked thoughtfully.

"No, what I really want is blood."

Clark hadn't stopped turning over his brother's words all morning. Davis was losing his fight with The Beast; that much was obvious. He didn't want his brother to no longer be humanoid at all, to be trapped on the estate hunting down deer and rabbits, to be nothing but a massive maw and red eyes. Someone had to help them. There had to be an answer. They just needed to know where they came from and maybe...

Phoning home did sound stupid didn't it?

But it was all he could think of and Davis wouldn't be lost. Clark would never allow that.

Today was his first day with Dr. Bridgette Crosby. He'd finally gotten and interview scheduled with her and passed with flying colors. It was exciting, to be starting on his major, to be working with one of the most imminent physicists in the world. Yeah, he was going to do grunt work, but it was a start.

Dr. Crosby nodded-he knew that rustle of hair on fabric by now-as he came in. "Clark, ten minutes early for your first day. I'm pleased."

He smiled and focused in on her voice. "I'm excited. It's going to be really great.

She was quiet for a second and then sighed. "I'm sorry. I smiled and forgot for a second."

He nodded and pointed to his glasses. "Right, that I can't see. It's a habit, everyone smiles or frowns. I just read a lot from tone of voice. It's really alright. As long as you're not scowling at me, then we're fine."

"I'll save that for tomorrow. Now, I have some data for you to enter into a database for me. The data is audio recorded and the computers are 100% attuned to voice commands. I assume you've used similar programs for your term papers?"

"Yes, doctor. I...maybe you're the most convenient lab on campus. Dr. Swann probably wasn't any better at typing than I."

"Clever," she said, drolly. "It did occur to me that even if they're not supposed to, other labs passed on you as an assistant because of your special needs. We are well accommodated to the differently abled. It's no bother."

Clark frowned as he used his cane to find a seat. "Really? I just thought I hadn't tried hard enough. I sent out emails to people and left some voice mails..."

"I checked your grades. You went blind in an accident and never missed a beat. I don't think you have any grade less than an A+ in the first year in some fairly rigorous math pre-reqs. When we talked you were extremely knowledgeable about the field, clearly you have access to journals and research them."

"Yes."

"And you passed the test I gave you. I've had graduate students do worse on the calculations. I assume your tutor can't do upper level differential equations and linear algebra?"

"He has a degree in special education from Gotham, but nope, it's all Greek to him."

More rustling, he assumed a nod. "Exactly. You're brilliant and actually care more than just grades or brown nosing. No, Clark, I think the other labs on campus have missed out by not scooping you up. I...just because the body's not all it used to be doesn't mean the mind's not excellent."

"That's right. Dr. Swann had an accident back when you were, um..."

"Still married, Clark. It's alright. We were great colleagues until the end. I don't mind talking about what ended twenty years ago. But, yes, welcome to my lab. I'm impressed so far, but you have to keep up the good work. You might be a genius but there are tons who would work for me. I want to see some drive."

"Believe me, Dr. Crosby, you can't imagine how much I want this."

_Maddie _

"No."

She rolled her eyes, not giving a damn if her boyfriend could see her or not. "It's a costume! The Omega Chi thing starts in two hours. You cannot go as Zorro."

"It's nice! It has a cape."

"This has a cape," she corrected, shoving the red velvet mantle into his hands. "You can't go out dressed similarly to the Blur. You match for obvious reasons on the reports about height and build. You can't go around dressing the part."

Clark grinned. "I'm blind remember? Blind people don't fight crime."

"Just you and Matt Murdochm," she huffed. "Mark Antony now."

"I-"

"You know," she added, "This wouldn't even be an issue if you could see me in my outfit. I look hot." She emphasized this and grabbing his hand, leading it to wear her dress dipped low over her chest, not enough to be obscene, but enough to get the impression across that she was definitely going to be the hottest girl out there.

Clark gulped. "Wow, that's...be back in a flash."

"Exactly my point."

The sorority party was pretty typical. It was drinking and dancing and sweaty people crammed into a few rooms listening to bad hip hop. It didn't really matter because she was with Clark. She was with Clark and they're conspiracy with Chloe was moving forward and she'd soon be part of his family. She couldn't imagine her life without him now, how integrated he was into the fabric of her world. Standing there, swaying with him, her face cradled on the nape of his neck, she felt complete.

"Thanks," he said quietly as the slow song continued to play.

"What for?"

"For everything. I...you're right. I'm very high maintenance and this morning you had a, well-"

"A _Davis _," she supplied, figuring that saying "The Beast" wasn't smart in mixed company.

"Yes, on your floor and you just rolled with it. I can't even figure out how I got so lucky to find you."

She grinned. "Let's just call it even, alright? I think you're pretty amazing too."

"Because I date a beautiful, smart, talented artist? Yes total hardship," he added and stroked her hair.

"No, because you know about dad and about what I could be one day. Thank you."

Her boyfriend nodded and leaned down to kiss her. "You're welcome!"

It would have been a perfect moment if not for a familiar voice. "Clark! What the hell are you doing?"

Maddie froze. She'd called Chloe and told her to invite Davis to the party starting at midnight. It was barely past eleven. She was supposed to have more time with Clark and to set up Davis walking in on Jimmy and Chloe, finish up operation Green Eyed Monster.

"Davis?" Clark asked, swallowing but actually tightening his grip on her.

"Clark, outside, now."

"I..."

"Davis, we'll all three go out there. I think we have a lot of talking to do," she finished, stalking out with both brothers to the veranda in the back. She was amazed yet grateful that they were able to find a corner without drunken code-eds either vomiting or making out. Easing Clark onto a porch swing and sitting next to him, her hand clutching his, she looked back at Davis. "Talk."

"Me? I'm supposed to talk? I can't even. Clark, you've been seeing her all this time?"

He nodded. "I couldn't break up with her. Davis, I love her. She's my best friend and everything else too."

"Unacceptable."

"I know, Davis. I know everything," she said quietly. "Clark told me about where you're really from and Chloe explained about The Beast. I even met him last night. It was my apartment you crashed in when you made it to Metropolis."

Davis's eyes flashed red and Maddie felt her heart race. "You told her?"

"Yes. Chloe and I were trying to figure out how to ease you into this. Davis, I know she's infected but she's never hurt anyone. That's more than either of us can say between what happened last December and my spree in Gotham. She's not a killer like Kyla _nor _is she obsessed like Alicia. We've dated since March and it's never hurt anybody."

Davis was pacing, gaping at his brother as if he could see him. "She knows. You know no one can know."

"Chloe knows," Clark pointed out. "Why can't Maddie?"

"Chloe's different."

Clark shook his head and quirked his ear to his brother. "No, Chloe's yours. Maddie's mine and I accept that. I love Maddie. I feel about her like you feel about Chloe and that's never gonna change. If you pressure me to leave her, then I _won't _. I'm not like you. I'm not going to cut the best thing out of my life because of where I was born. I can't do that."

Maddie smiled and kissed his cheek. She never wanted him to pick her over his family, knew he'd never actually survive that but it warmed her nevertheless to know he would stick up for her even over the approval from Davis he deeply craved.

"Chloe isn't the issue. In fact, I saw her dancing all over some twerp inside."

Now Davis's voice was distorted and Maddie felt herself break into a sweat. "Davis?"

"I...nothing," he said, taking a few ragged breaths and when he spoke again, his words weren't distorted. She assumed it meant he'd pushed the burgeoning fangs away.

Clark frowned. "Chloe has a date?"

Maddie shifted nervously. In theory, her idea made perfect sense-bring out Davis's inner caveman-but in reality it wasn't like that. Davis wasn't a neanderthal underneath. He was a beast. Getting jealous meant he could lose control and kill people. She'd been stupid to do otherwise.

"Not really," she clarified. "She only asked Jimmy out to make you jealous. It was my idea."

Davis turned on her, and his eyes were so red. "You what?"

Clark was up then, shoving his brother a few steps back. "Stop. Maddie did it wrong but she and Chloe were trying to make a point. You're pissed because you saw Chloe _finally _seem to take your advice and you can't stand the idea of her really with a boringly normal, human guy. You can't."

"She looked happy," Davis gritted out. "That's what matters."

Maddie sighed. "I should go tell Chloe the cat's out of the bag and let her know that she doesn't have to keep dancing with that worm."

"Thanks," Clark said, squeezing her hand. "I...what you and Chloe did was stupid and we'll talk about it later, but thank you."

With that, she hurried back into the house.

_Davis _

"Squirt," he started, voice still ragged as he fought to keep The Beast down, struggled to keep it from tearing that bow tie wearing moron apart. "Why would you lie to me? For six months!"

Clark sighed and adjusted his sunglasses. "You said no. I wanted to show you she was safe, that she wasn't dangerous."

"She's a mutant, Clark."

"We're you know what," he hissed, keeping his voice low. "It's not different. She's not just like any other mutant. There are like twenty per cent or so who are good and not psychotic. She's clearly one of them."

"Her father isn't."

Clark snorted. "We don't even know _what _our parents were, don't have a name for it. Stop being a judgmental ass. I know you want to protect me but I'm safe now."

Davis reached out and took off his brother's glasses. "Just barely now. You've had so much stuff go wrong. I have to protect you. Mom made me."

"I'll be twenty in May. I'm not a scared little kid anymore. I have a life and a career I look forward to getting into, a girl who loves me, and I save this city every night almost. Davis, you have taken care of me better than any brother could have, but I need you to let me go just a little."

He hesitated, holding the sunglasses in his hands, thinking of all that his brother had lost and compensated for. "I worry about you."

His brother reached out and took his glasses back and Davis wondered if their plastic was just pungent to his brother's nose. He never did quite understand how Clark perceived the world, especially his connection to air currents. "And I worry about you too. You were about to Beast out right here over Chloe. I mean, yeah, Maddie was being naive about this."

"I know...and that's exactly why I can't be with her."

Clark shook his head. "The Beast loves her best of anything except possibly saying 'Kal-Elllll' a lot. You seek her out whether you want to or not. So it's really like, why wait any longer?"

"Because I'm a-"

"Davis, she loves you _and _The Beast. You're not going to get a better deal in life that this, not ever, and I don't think you'd want to. You love her and you both-beast and guy-want to beat the ever loving crap out of that Jimmy guy. Okay?"

He nodded. "I wasn't expecting that. I was mostly just interested in coming by cause Chloe had left a message about it and I figured get there earlier, less watered down beer."

"You can't get drunk!"

"I can taste the crap left over two hours in," he said. "It felt like when you burned me with heat vision when I saw her. I...even if it was a set up, Clark, it _hurt_."

"And this was a ruse. How would you feel if she'd really fallen in love with someone? If you'd caught her kissing a real boyfriend or engaged to someone else?"

"Well it wouldn't end well for the boyfriend," Davis riposted. "I'm serious. I love her but I don't deserve her."

Clark laughed, long and hard. "I don't deserve Maddie. All the shit I pulled in Gotham? I should be in jail for fifty years at least for all the grand larceny. It's not about deserving them. They love us, and I'm not gonna question that." Then, his brother stood and hugged him. "Go talk to her, you've delayed on this too much."

With that, there was a breeze and Clark was gone.

Davis didn't waste time finding Chloe. Maddie was already gone, headed back to her apartment and presumably to do extra curricular activities with Clark. Davis didn't even want to deal with that. Maddie was still an unknown quantity and mom would be furious. Easing mom into Chloe was _still _a work in progress. He'd have to worry about that later, accept their family was growing again.

She looked up at him from the corner of a dorm room, a small red solo cup barely drunk in her hand. "You came."

He nodded and sighed. "Yup, the invite was intriguing."

"Maddie told me you were jealous enough to start to shift, that your fangs started coming out."

"Yeah, that's better," he said, sitting next to her.

She smiled sadly and stroked his cheek. "Your eyes are pretty red."

"I don't like you dancing with other guys; apparently neither does my beastly half."

She kissed him then and he melted. He'd tried so hard to be strong, to let her go for her own good but he couldn't anymore. He couldn't leave her be or lose her. He couldn't imagine life without her as his. Even if Clark were right and he was spending more time as The Beast, even if one day he might not be human at all, he couldn't let her go.

She was Chloe after all and there was no one like her anywhere.

It went like that for a long time. He had the presence of mind not to go too far since they were in God knew whose bedroom. Still, he'd not touched her in two years and it was everything he'd waited for an wanted. Finally, merely human, Chloe broke apart from him to take in gulps of air.

"Wow."

He nodded and could feel his vision still clouded with red. "I know. I missed you."

"I can tell. I...you visited."

"Yup, so Clark and Maddie said. The Beast is probably smarter than I am."

She giggled and kissed him again. "He's not a conversationalist. Davis, can you speed back to the estate? I'm not suggesting, you know, doing anything drastic, but I've missed you and I just...can I spend the night."

He had her blurred back to his room before she could blink and, if in the morning he awoke in shredded pajamas at the foot of her bed, for just a moment, that was okay. He could live with that, just not without her.


	27. Chapter 27

Chloe

She had to sigh when she awoke. They'd spent the night talking until easily three a.m., her cuddled against his chest and him holding her tightly, stroking her hair. All sorts of things said-the I love yous and the I miss yous-but also just jokes and silly nothings that come late at night. Chloe'd passed out with strong arms around her.

She awoke with Davis, again as naked as he'd been the day Martha found the boys, curled up at the foot of the bed. Checking over the right side, Chloe found a freshly killed rabbit on the floor, blood still pooling. She must have just missed The Beast. Frowning, she stilled before shaking his shoulder and letting him know it was time to wake up and get dressed. Davis had never shifted twice in twenty-four hours. It wasn't in his nature. Or it hadn't been. Taking deep breaths, Chloe forced any panic away. She wouldn't think about The Beast overtaking him. She'd fix it. Damn it, Clark already had started research with Dr. Crosby. The two of them, hell Maddie if she wanted to be along for the ride, they'd figure out how to find the answers that Clark had been looking for and Davis was ignoring.

Sighing once more, she carefully draped a throw over him. "Davis, hey."

Her boyfriend-God, it sounded good to say that again-blinked blearily up at her. "Chlo? Oh, huh, I guess I wasn't the only one who missed you." She smiled at him as he blurred and was sitting back in front of her clothed in jeans and a black t-shirt. "Morning."

Chloe nodded and kissed him. "Morning to you too, oh, um, you might want to brush your teeth though."

Davis eyed what was left of the rabbit on the floor. "Oh for fuck's sake."

"I forgot too. I...so stew for supper then?" she added, winking at him.

He stiffened but she noticed he forced himself to keep smiling. Two years ago this would have been fodder for another break up. "Maybe. I'll have mom get cook on it."

"Exactly, I mean people bring home food all the time. I mean there has to be a reason for there to be fishing network."

"Inbreeding?"

"Well not that!" she said, threading her fingers through his. "I missed this."

Davis eyed the rabbit and then looked back at her. "I did too. I just...if it ever is too much, Chloe, then you have to let me know. It's okay if some day living with a beast is too much."

"Davis-"

"I have to get this out here," he finished, still clutching her hand. "I know you didn't try normal so much as mostly being alone for two years. I know that I'm changing more than I used to."

"Yes," she said, unable to lie or try and comfort him about it. It was a fact; The Beast was coming more now.

"Still, if there's ever a time when I'm just The Beast, you're not bound to me. You have a life of your own beyond my problems or Clark's."

"You won't ever be just The Beast," she corrected.

"But if I am, if I stop being Davis at all some day, I'd understand."

She swallowed with a lot of effort. "I'm not leaving, okay? So let's just get some waffles."

She had to smile at her friend as she watched him from the doorway to his office. Clark had a small cubby hole in the middle of Dr. Crosby's main lab but it still technically did have a door for it. Clark was sitting there with large headphones on his ears and a mic in front of him. She assumed he was recoding and annotating whatever recordings he'd been given. Chloe was glad a lab had taken him too. Only an idiot would pass up someone as smart and earnest as Clark for an assistant.

Knocking on the door, Chloe held up a paper bag of carry out subs from their favorite place off campus. "Hey! You have a break, you know?"

Nodding, Clark slipped off his headphones and readjusted his sunglasses. "Cool, it's not locked." Pausing, he took a deep breath and grinned. "Ham and Swiss and a brownie? You're almost the best."

She giggled and sat down at a chair, placing his sandwich in one hand and the brownie in the other. "Maddie's promoted over me for obvious reasons."

"Yup, but you're the best friend ever. Nothing says adoration like free food."

"I'll remember that," she said, biting into her own tuna. "Oh are we supposed to eat in here?"

"We can, but next time I'll meet you somewhere, promise. So what's up?"

"I wanted to see where you work. Where the astrophysics happens."

He laughed. "It's boring isn't it? All math readouts and formulae."

"Or the audio companion for formulae."

"Yeah," he added, blushing a little. "I've been working on cataloging some notes Dr. Crosby made a few years back on different meteor rock types."

She frowned. "Like the kind from the shower?"

He nodded and unwrapped his brownie. "I...there's not just red and green, actually."

"I don't follow."

"There are at least three other types that Swann's outfit has found, some Dr. Crosby found even after Dr. Swann's death."

"Like," Chloe said, her heart speeding up.

"There's blue, gold, and one that is even like, well, gemstones."

She stilled and set down her food. "Have you been near them?"

He shook his head. "She has her own safe for them. Her senior graduate student researcher and Dr. Crosby are the ones who have access."

"You can't get near them. I don't know why, still, you and Davis are so different."

"Different moms, at least."

"I know but you can't get near the samples, you do get that, right?"

"I don't have the clearance. I am not even close to ranking enough for chemical compound readouts. I just thought you should know. There's more that came down that day. I...if I work my way up for access, maybe we can get some testing somehow?"

She snorted. "Yeah, you just go get in proximity and it turns you into a kangaroo or makes you molt or gives you Ebola-"

"You're not making me feel better, here."

She sighed. "You can learn things, sure, Clark, but you can't risk your health. The rocks so far either alter your personality beyond recognition or they boil your blood. I don't want to know what brand new shades can do."

"And once the green hurt Davis. I...what if one of the colors, if I snuck home a sample...what if they could kill off The Beast part?"

"Your home's version of freaking Uranium is not going to be a cure all."

"How do you know? It doesn't matter, you know, if I snuck home something that hurt me. As long as Davis could get cured, then I've done my job, you know?"

"You two are too noble, did you know that?"

"Huh?" he asked, wadding up his trash and fumbling a little on the floor, feeling for the bag until she nudged it his way. "Thanks."

"No prob, but what I meant is Davis doesn't care about his own well being as long as you, me, and Martha are safe. You feel the same way but add in Maddie to the pile. You and Davis are total "Gift of the Magi" with each other, you know that?"

"He's taken care of me my whole life, no matter what. He came for me in Gotham. He helped me recover, found me Shelby. I have to pay him back. But you know that feeling, don't you?" he snorted.

"Yeah, you saw through my first day meal huh?"

"Yup. I...you know he's changing more too don't you?"

"He woke up human, but he went hunting during the night, there was a rabbit by the bed."

"Dead I assume."

"Yes," she replied, not meeting his eyes. It was stupid habit as he couldn't see her reactions one way or the other. Hell, knowing Clark, he'd just hear her heart hammering in her chest and she couldn't control that. "That's twice in twenty-four hours. I know he's never done that."

"Yeah. I don't know what else I'll find here. Right now it's not that exciting or anything Earth shattering, except for the chance I might one day get near enough to the rocks to get samples."

"We'll talk that plan over more. It's dangerous."

"Still a possibility," he huffed. "But one of the seniors-he's going to MIT in the fall-he said that he was working on analyzing the frequency of transmissions Swann's satellite systems picked up during the shower."

She frowned. "Like what kind of signals?"

"That's what I asked, Chlo, and he wasn't sure yet, but what if they were from our planet?"

"Huh?"

"I...Swann has some samples that might do something good for one of us...possibly."

"Or just kill you," she drawled. "And transmissions."

"Well not like anyone's been able to decode them so far or, if Swann did before his death, the Dr. Crosby didn't hear of it. But what if there was a signal all along? What if they were looking for us?" Clark was grinning then, his mind running wild.

She understood that. She'd told herself something similar, though more mundane, when her mom first left. One day she'd come back and tell Chloe she was sorry. There'd be tears and hugs and maybe they'd go on a big family vacation, the three of them. She hoped that for several years and then, when Moira never returned, she stopped even letting herself think of her mother at all. Clark and Davis were orphans. Davis had adopted her method of coping but Clark-poor always optimistic Clark-believed still that someone wanted them both, was looking for them, just unable to find them.

For her boyfriend and his brother's sakes, she hoped Clark was right.

"Clark, just work on getting access to the transmissions. The rocks, clearly, will take longer if ever. Okay?"

"Cool. Chlo, I promise, I can save him."

"Of course you can," she said, patting his forearm and glad he couldn't see her eyes tear up.

Maddie

It was a little awkward, sitting at dinner with Clark at her place after everything. Last night, they'd rushed home to give Chloe and Davis space and hadn't had much time to talk because Clark had needed rest to go into the lab in a timely fashion the next morning. She'd has some things to do on starting her independent study as well. They didn't get into anything deep. They had merely wriggled into pajamas (or just his t-shirt in her case) and fallen asleep.

Sitting over some Chinese take-out, Maddie realized there was some tension in the air. "Clark?"

He frowned and quirked his head at her, angling his right ear toward where she'd spoken. "Yeah?"

"Are you mad at me?" she asked, setting her chopsticks down.

Clark sighed and set down his spoon (chopsticks were out of his purview). "I'm confused."

"Why?"

"Maddie, I know you wanted to help Chloe and Davis and, yeah, apparently it worked, but you didn't understand what you were doing."

"I-"

He shook his head. "No you didn't get it. I know that's partially my fault because I've kept you from this side of my family, from what I thought I was. I know you didn't get even after seeing it what The Beast really meant."

"I thought if I made Davis jealous, he'd take Chloe back, which he did."

"Yes."

She shuddered and pushed her plate away. "But I didn't expect how angry her got. Clark...I heard him, his jaw shifted and he was fighting back fangs. That's how angry he was."

"I was afraid I was going to have to pull The Beast of bow-tie dweeb, that I'd be out there exposed for one thing and trying to keep my brother from hurting drunk co-eds caught in the crossfire. I love Davis. I learned to deal with The Beast when it wasn't even me. I don't forget what it is."

She frowned. "What is it?"

"It's a cancer. I...it's not Davis. It likes what he likes, protects what her would."

"This family."

He nodded and she knew he wouldn't include her in that circle. She was just glad The Beast half of Davis was, at best, indifferent to her. Clearly some of Clark's other girlfriends had not been as lucky, crazy or not. "But it's not my brother. It's a killer, murdered Jonathan Kent, no matter what kind of an asshole and threat he way. You can never forget that. Even if Chloe and I can temper him, even then, The Beast is a wild animal and a killer."

"I understand that now. I didn't...I just wanted Davis to get in touch with his feelings, let the caveman out."

"He can't ever. You think I have control just trying to keep my strength back? He has to work all the time to stay calm, to keep his other side from hurting someone. Don't bait him again. I know you didn't understand how serious it was, but you have to be more careful."

She sighed and said nothing for a while. Clark's family came with so many trade-offs, with so many secrets and responsibilities. She loved him; God did she. Still, she wondered if the gulf between even her family's Bonnie and Clyde weirdness and his family's War of the Worlds stakes was too vast. Maddie was trying to survive and navigate things she didn't even understand.

"Maddie?"

"I know. I can't believe I fucked that up so badly."

There was a breeze and Clark was kneeling at her side, kissing her cheek. "No one got hurt. I...just be careful with Davis and The Beast. Even if you know it, I don't want it here. I don't want it anywhere."

"Davis is It."

"No, there has to be a way to fix it. It's why I chose Dr. Crosby's lab, well, besides no other callbacks. Hers is the one I wanted. I have to find something in her and Swann's records, there has to be-"

She sighed and cupped his cheek. "A cure? An extremely long distance phone number for your family?"

He smiled. "Hopefully so. I love my brother and his other half is ruining him. I won't let it take everything."

"Clark?"

"I...we'll figure so many things out, I promise. We'll figure out somehow where Davis and I are from, how to understand our powers."

"The Beast?"

He nodded and clenched his jaw. "How to get rid of that part. But first, do you want to settle on dinner?"

"We just ate, Goofy."

"No," he replied, kissing her. "At the estate. I want you to come to Sunday supper next week with all of us. Mom has to know and I want her to know."

"Didn't she like blacklist Chloe once?"

"She mentioned that?"

Maddie nodded, "Among other things. I really...will she like me?"

"I like you."

She smiled and stroked his cheek again. That wasn't the right answer. "Cool. That's definitely a plan. So, we didn't get to enjoy the warm fuzzies I was riding last night til Davis showed up." Standing, Maddie walked back toward her living room and slipped off her top, flinging it at Clark's head.

Bastard caught it.

"Extracurricular?" he asked, his voice a rumble.

"Definitely."

It was Saturday night. Her boyfriend was driving her insane. He had been bipolar all week, fluctuating between giddy over being out in the open with her and terrified of his mother. As they were walking to her apartment after a movie downtown, Clark was full out nervous. Gripping her hand a little tighter than he should have, he kept trying to brief her on what his mother liked and didn't.

"I think it's best if you let her lead everything. She's a lawyer by training. I mean, yeah senator now, but she was one of the best that Met U Law ever put out and she's used to asking all the questions."

"Honey?" Maddie asked, easing her hand out of his grasp. "Maybe you need one of those paper bags to breathe in and out of?"

He sighed as they turned the corner down a desolate street a few block from her apartment. "I'm fine. I just...mom's scary. I love her to pieces, I do, but she's way more intense than The Beast. It's very hard to please her."

"Do you please her?"

He frowned. "What kind of question is that?"

"I...you talked a lot this summer about how she'd expected you to go pre-law."

"She and Grandfather both did, but that's not me. I'm not a lawyer."

"Not everyone is," she conceded. "Clark, it's fine. I know your mom's tough. I know she's over protective. I know she's not going to like me cause she probably doesn't actually even like Chloe."

"Mom...she spent twelve years hiding us. She's never adjusted to the idea that, outside of Grandfather, someone else would be able to do so, could be trusted. I just don't want her to be rude and then you to hate me for it."

Maddie sighed and leaned up to kiss him. "I would never hold anything against you."

"I'd hold you against me," Clark joked, pressing her to him.

It was then an arrow-and honest to god arrow-whizzed by her ear. Instinct was taking over after that. Maddie was standing back to back with Clark, her heart racing but her mind going steady and clear. She needed to be ready. Eyeing the windows in the buildings around her and the broken beer bottles in the gutter, she eased a bit. Her power was pretty fucking useful. It was hard to be in a place without any glass at all. She never really patrolled with the boys. It wasn't a sexism thing. It just wasn't her calling. Maddie and Chloe offered recon help and strategy freely but, unless it was something dire with a meteor mutant, Maddie didn't get physically involved.

Didn't mean she couldn't, just that she rarely did.

She spotted him first, actually, the man swinging down from the roof top to the alley they'd huddled into. Did he have a fucking grappling hook? Who did that? He was dressed in green leather and reminded her vaguely of if Robin Hood had an S&M fetish.

"Who the fuck are you?"

When he spoke, his voice was off, distorted somehow mechanically. "Green Arrow."

Clark pushed her behind him and she tried not to take offense. "We don't want trouble."

The man laughed. "What do you think I want?"

"If it's money," Clark said, fishing into his wallet. "That's okay. We have some. I have three hundred on me and my watch is real."

The archer eyed her boyfriend's Rolex. "I can tell. Not actually interested."

"Clark," Maddie hissed. "Can't we just get this over with."

He hesitated, back tight with tension. This wasn't patrol. He wasn't in a disguise and Maddie understood that he was smart enough not to get caught doing anything inhuman publicly. His mom wasn't famous exactly, but it wasn't smart either. "I can give you the pin I have-"

There was a blur and a kick of breeze and Maddie sighed in relief. "The Ultimate thank fucking God."

When she looked toward where she assumed Davis would be standing, she was confused to see a guy no taller than she was in a red hoodie standing there. Creepy out from the shadows of the alley also were a black guy and a guy who liked orange way too much, both built like football players. Looking up, Maddie noticed a girl in a long black trench coat rushing down a fire escape.

A gang, the hell?

"Look," she said, taking the wallet from Clark's hand and flinging it at the archer. He made no move to pick it up as it fell to the floor. "Money, see, that's what you all want, right?"

The only other girl there was on the ground now, moving up behind the archer. She shook her head. "No, chica, we want him."

"Um, is this a ransom thing? Cause my mom's not the type to pay that. We're really...don't you want to kidnap someone else?" Clark floundered.

"Come on, Stretch," the hooded guy said and he blurred, hand to God, moved like Clark did and for a moment Maddie had the irrational thought these were other aliens who'd come for him and that their relationship worries or Martha aside, it was all bullshit. They'd come to take him home.

She squeezed Clark's arm. "What the Hell?"

"Fastest man alive," hoodie replied. "Can't do anything as exciting as the rest of what your buddy The Blur does, but I am fast."

Maddie froze and Clark did in front of her. She couldn't have heard what she thought she had. No one knew. Fuck, Clark had always said it himself. He had the perfect alibi because no one thought a blind man could do what he was capable of. That was for comic books.

"What?" Clark asked and she gave him credit for playing incredulity well.

The archer, and she was sure he was the ring leader, smirked. "You're Clark Kent, son of the Lowell County senator and you're also The Blur. We haven't gotten 100% confirmation that your older brother is The Ultimate but it's logical, isn't it?"

"You're insane," Maddie replied, gesturing at her boyfriend's glasses and cane (appearances first). "He can't fucking fight crime. He can't even match his clothes!" Knowing only he'd hear it, she added under her breath, "Sorry."

He said nothing to her but squeezed her hand tighter. "I think you're really confused-"

The archer pulled out a small hand held crossbow and pointed it at Clark's chest. "What happens if I let this go?"

"Don't! You're crazy! You want The Blur so you threaten to shoot a senator's son. Stop it!" Maddie shouted.

Things happened fast then. She rushed forward to push the archer away. The girl in the trench coat grabbed her in a death grip that was almost as strong as Clark's own. Her boyfriend lunged, still normal speed, for her and the shot went off.

And the arrow crumpled milliseconds later to the ground.

"I-" Clark said, fumbling. "Look, okay, let's talk about this. You all let Maddie go and we'll go some place neutral and talk about what you want with The Blur, okay?"

She wasn't so in to letting him do that. Concentrating, Maddie shattered the closest window, some monster eight foot job on the second floor by the fire escape. She had the shards at the girl holding her's throat. "Back off."

There was a breeze and she shook her head. "Hoodie I know you moved. I'm serious. We get to walk out of here. Understand."

"Maddie-" Clark started.

She shook her head and pushed away any thoughts about just roughing up the girl for fun. She wasn't her father damn it. "No, I got this. You want The Blur? You have to go through me first."

"Gladly," the bitch sad back, her words accented. Breeze again and Maddie was thrown aside by hoodie. Then she was up, her and the trench coated girl circling each other, a wake of broken glass shards following behind Maddie, suspended in the air. "Interesting truco."

"Back off," she said. Vaguely aware that both the football looking guys had jumped Clark and were trying to detain him. The thing that surprised her that, between the two of them, they were managing. What the fuck were these people?

"Don't think so," the girl said, rushing forward and Maddie feinted left, tripping her. The girl was up again and Maddie was trying, really she was, but hand-to-hand was not her skill and, yeah, she could wield glass but she was at a disadvantage. She wasn't going to be her father, wasn't going to stab someone and they knew she wasn't going to hurt them, that it was for show.

It was just her and whatever instincts for a fight she could manage.

The girl and she circled, and Maddie mostly worked to avoid her. She was smaller and faster after all. Finally, seeing an opening where the Latina girl had swung and gotten off balance, she headbutted the other girl, sending her sprawling to her feet right by Clark, her locket ripped apart.

That's when the melee stopped.

Everything stopped.

The locket started to glow, to pulsate green in a rhythm like a heartbeat. At the same time, she watched, helpless, as Clark fell to his knees and started to moan. She didn't think it was her imagination that his veins were black.

Maddie tried to rush forward but hoodie retrained her. As she watched, the archer picked up the locket and brought it closer to Clark. Her boyfriend screamed and no she could see the veins themselves, midnight reliefs on his skin, writhing. "Stop."

The archer did, even took a step or two back. Clark wouldn't be going anywhere but he could breathe slightly more easily. "We're not here to hurt you, Blur."

"Could have fooled me," Maddie spat.

"I...hurts," Clark moaned and she wasn't sure if he knew really where he was currently.

"We just want to get to know you better," the archer said. "Had no idea the Angel's necklace would help more than her strength but whatever works. Cyborg, Aquaman, get an arm and Angel stay near enough with this to detain him."

Maddie was still squirming. "Let him go."

Hoodie held her but she could feel his hold slipping. "Do you want her too, Arrow?"

The archer-Arrow-shook his head. "Maybe some day, but he's better. Much better."

Maddie had a sliver of glass at Arrow's throat before he could draw another breath. "I said-"

"You're not going to kill me. We both know it. You're not going to maim me either; you don't have it in you."

"I-"

"Impulse?"

"Yeah?" hoodie asked.

"Move out," Arrow answered and she was suddenly free. She rushed forward, trying to get to Clark when the Angel handed Arrow the necklace-how could something like that keep Clark so ill-and then ran up between her and Clark.

"Chica, I'm strong enough to crush concrete. You don't want to fuck with me. You'll get him back. We just want to talk a while."

"I...what are you?"

"Justice," the black guy added before the finished moving out.


End file.
